About Reed | Subscribe | Home | American Heritage | Forums

Do You Know Your 10-and-10?
(Ten Commandments and Bill of Rights)
By: Reed R. Heustis, Jr.
June 26, AD 2005

Every American who respects Biblical principles of civil government and the Constitution of the United States of America should know what I call "The 10-and-10": God's Ten Commandments, revealed in The Book of Exodus, Chapter 20, verses one through 17; and the first ten Articles of Amendment to the Constitution, commonly known as the Bill of Rights. All ten of each should be memorized so that when Christian Constitutionalists engage in casual everyday discussion with others, they will speak with authority.

Unfortunately however, today most Christian Constitutionalists know neither the Ten Commandments nor the Bill of Rights, and they therefore speak with anything but authority.

It is quite ironic that many Christians will proudly proclaim that they support the state's right to recognize God and the Ten Commandments, and yet when asked to name each of the Ten Commandments, they can only name around three or four of them. "Thou shalt not kill" and "Thou shalt not steal" are usually always mentioned, but others, such as "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," are hardly ever mentioned.

Try this at home: Lovingly ask a Christian brother or sister to name the Ten Commandments from memory. Ten bucks says that a high percentage of them, perhaps most of them, will be unable to do so.

It is also ironic that many Christians and conservatives who say that they love and cherish the Constitution will likewise not be able to name by memory the contents of the Bill of Rights.

Once again, try this at home for yourself: Lovingly ask your neighbor to name in order the first Ten Amendments to the Constitution. Most people vaguely will be able to pinpoint certain "rights" found in the Bill of Rights, such as the freedom of speech, the right to keep and bear arms, and the freedom of religion. In fact, most will even likewise rattle off the mythical "separation of church of state," whereas the words, "separation," "church" and "state" are found nowhere in the First Amendment, which is the article that addresses the relationship of religion and the federal government.

However, the vast supermajority of the people you ask, perhaps over 90% of them, will be totally unable to name by memory the first ten amendments.

Is it any surprise why Biblical principles of civil government and Constitutional boundaries of federal governance have nearly been erased from American jurisprudence? Is it any wonder why this movement to restore such principles continues to take backward steps regardless of whether Republicans or Democrats are in power? Is anybody really stupefied when atheists and humanists stereotype Christians as illiterate and uneducated?

This is a question that every Christian Constitutionalist should ask himself or herself: How can the movement to restore these principles succeed when most Christians cannot name the Ten Commandments and most Constitutionalists cannot recite the Bill of Rights? How can this movement be taken seriously when most of those advocating reform do not know the very principles that they seek to vindicate? Are they merely clanging cymbals?

Quite frankly, many churches have walked away from revering the Ten Commandments. In this writer's opinion, the Ten Commandments should be recited every Lord's Day from every pulpit across America. Every Christian absolutely must know the Ten Commandments.

Moreover, most schools never teach the Constitution, let alone the Bill of Rights. In fact, when I went to a law school that was accredited by the American Bar Association, the study of the Bill of Rights was never required, and most, if not all, law students graduate and pass their states' bar examinations without ever having to mention the first ten Articles of Amendment! Never once in my own legal education did any law professor ever discuss the right to keep and bear arms, which is protected by the Second Amendment. Not once!

If churchgoers are not educated about the Ten Commandments, and lawyers not schooled in the Bill of Rights, then far be it from reality that the average voter will be able to name the Ten Commandments or the Bill of Rights from memory; and far be it from reality to expect the Christian Constitutionalist movement to succeed.

Many Christian churches use catechisms to educate churchgoers about theology. Such a method is an excellent way to build up faith and to instruct young and old alike about certain foundational doctrines. Churches that do not use this method, should.

With regard to politics, the same method should be employed by each individual voter to learn the Bill of Rights, let alone the Constitution, frontward and backward.

Edmund Burke once said, "All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing." How can good men do good when they don't know what it is?

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...," the Bible says. How true it is.

It's time to learn the 10-and-10.

(For the reader's edification, a side-by-side listing of the Ten Commandments and the Bill of Rights is accessible on the web at: http://www.reedheustis.com/m/10and10.htm .)

Get a Pocket Constitution delivered to your home!

Subscribe to The Christian Constitutionalist:
newsletter-subscribe@christianconstitutionalist.com

Return to Home Page

This site hosted by Host4Profit.