As much as I complain about the imposition of the Ten Commandments unto our government, I will say that the authors of that document did have the right idea. There is something to be said about a list of rules and guidelines for us to follow so that we might better get along with each other.

The problem with the Ten Commandments is that it tries to be all things to all people. It is simply too generic a document to be applicable to all situations in life. For instance, the First Commandment, “Thou Shalt Have No God Before Me,” doesn’t really help you on the grocery store checkout line. Nor does the Fourth Commandment, “Honor Thy Father and Mother,” do a bit of good to that little boy living in a Cabrini Green rat’s cubby with a crack-addled mother who sells her ass for vials of rock.