{"id":1160,"date":"2025-07-20T01:54:01","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T06:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/?p=1160"},"modified":"2025-12-04T10:19:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T16:19:47","slug":"whats-my-why-part-2-whats-my-problem-with-the-10-commandments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/whats-my-why-part-2-whats-my-problem-with-the-10-commandments\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s my \u201cWhy?\u201d Part 2: What\u2019s my problem with the 10 Commandments?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What\u2019s my \u201cWhy?\u201d Part 2: What\u2019s my problem with the 10 Commandments?<\/h1>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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What\u2019s my \u201cWhy?\u201d Part 2: What\u2019s my problem with the 10 Commandments?<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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This post originally appeared on\u00a0Dead Dillo<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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(In Part 1 of this series I said\u2026<\/em><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

I think quite a lot about politics these days. Some of you know I even went as far as to apply to the LBJ Women\u2019s Campaign School<\/a>\u00a0which I am in the middle of completing right now. During the first week of campaign school one of the main things we talked about is \u201cWhat is your \u2018Why?\u2019\u201d What has gotten you up off the couch and moving? What is going to keep you motivated when things get hard and you are tired? I heard lots of inspiring stories from other people about their various \u201cWhys.\u201d I thought all week about my \u201cWhy.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

One of the problems with me being a politician is that I have a hard time explaining my \u201cwhy\u201d in a way that is moving and inspiring. I tend to take too many words to explain it, it doesn\u2019t fit very well on meme, or a sticker, or even one of those big, glossy postcards you get during campaign season, but I\u2019ll take a swing at explaining at least part of it here\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

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This is me still working through my \u201cWhy.\u201d \u2013 ABT<\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\u00a0<\/p>

\"\"Here\u2019s the deal\u2026I don\u2019t have a problem with the 10 Commandments.\u00a0I very much have a problem with a law that requires the 10 Commandments to be posted on the wall in every public school classroom in Texas.<\/p>

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I have a problem with this law because religious freedom is important to me, and I believe this is a step away from religious freedom and toward establishing a state religion.<\/p>

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I often get push back from friends who take their faith very seriously.\u00a0 They ask me things like, \u201cWhy do you have a problem with the 10 Commandments?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cWhat commandment do you have a problem with?\u201d<\/p>

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I get the impression that they think I oppose this bill because I somehow oppose the 10 Commandments or faith or Christianity.\u00a0 Or maybe they think I oppose it because I don\u2019t think faith is important, or because I don\u2019t believe faith has the power to change behavior and make things better.<\/p>

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In fact, it\u2019s the opposite.\u00a0 I oppose this bill because I profoundly believe in the importance and power of faith.\u00a0\u00a0My faith is the most basic thing about me. It is precious to me \u2013 sacred.<\/p>

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Because my faith is so important to me, it is important to me that I am free to pursue it as honestly as I possibly can: that I am free to ask every question, that I can fearlessly consider that I may have misunderstood and that I may need to learn and change, that I am free to disagree with people around me sometimes.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want my faith to be \u201cblind faith\u201d \u2014 I want to bring my whole self to it, including my mind and life experiences.<\/p>

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Because my faith is so important to me, it is important to me that every person be free to pursue their faith honestly.<\/p>

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I believe efforts to establish a state religion interfere with the honest pursuit of faith.<\/p>

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Once the state puts a thumb on the scale and says, \u201cPeople who follow this particular version of this particular religion will enjoy the support of the state; people who pursue other religions or other versions of this religion will not enjoy the same support\u201d \u2014 then people have to weigh their free and honest pursuit of faith and faithful living against the benefits they would enjoy by just going along with what the state says is preferable.<\/p>

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In worst case scenarios, people have to weigh their honest pursuit of faith and faithful living against the dangers of disagreeing with the version of religion favored by the state.<\/p>

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I\u2019d like to think that we don\u2019t have to worry about this worst case scenario, but it has happened before, and it is happening now in some parts of the world.\u00a0 I don\u2019t have any particular reason to believe that we are better people than those people.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it is important to keep a steady eye on our laws and to make sure they are in line with our values. One of my core values is religious freedom.<\/p>

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I have friends who think I am making way too big a fuss over this 10 Commandments thing \u2013 what could it hurt to have the 10 Commandments on display?\u00a0 Maybe it will help? It never hurts to be reminded \u201cthou shalt not steal,\u201d right?\u00a0\u00a0 Or sometimes my friends say, \u201cIt\u2019s no big deal. This law doesn\u2019t have anything to do with a \u2018state religion.\u2019\u00a0 \u00a0It\u2019s just a way of teaching children where laws come from.\u201d<\/p>

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Here\u2019s why I think it is a big deal and why it does have to do with a state religion\u2026<\/p>

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If our legislators are convinced we have a problem with school children stealing, and that a poster on the wall is a way to fix that problem, why not pass a bill that requires a poster in every public school classroom that simply says, \u201cDon\u2019t Steal!\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Why get entangled with using a religious version of this straightforward message?<\/p>

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If our legislators believe this 10 Commandments requirement is about teaching children where laws come from, why require it in every classroom?\u00a0 Why not just mention it in the social studies curriculum.\u00a0 Why require that it be posted in every second grade classroom, every calculus classroom, every music classroom?<\/p>

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I think it is because this bill is not really about getting kids to stop stealing or about helping kids understand the history of law.\u00a0 I think this bill is a part of a long-standing, well-organized and maybe even well-intentioned effort to \u201cput religion\u201d \u2013 specifically conservative Christian religion \u2013 \u201cback in schools.\u201d\u00a0 I believe that once this step is accomplished, its proponents will move on to another step, and another with the goal of making it clear that conservative Christian religion is favored by our public schools, and by extension, our government.<\/p>

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However well or ill-intended that effort may be, I disagree with it. As I have already explained above, I think state-established religion is the wrong way to go for people who hold the honest pursuit of faith as a sacred right.<\/p>

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To be clear, I don\u2019t have any particular problem with conservative Christian religion.\u00a0 It\u2019s not my particular version of Christianity, but I believe conservative Christians have a right to their beliefs, just like I have a right to mine, and other people have a right to theirs.\u00a0 What none of us have the right to do is to establish our religion as the preferred religion of the government.<\/p>

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Some people believe that the United States should be a Christian nation.\u00a0 They believe that Christianity \u2013 \u00a0their particular brand of Christianity \u2013 should be the state religion.\u00a0 I disagree.\u00a0 I believe the United States should be a nation where everyone has a right to pursue their own faith honestly.\u00a0 For some people, that means they will not profess conservative Christianity, or Christianity period, or even a faith in God. \u00a0I can\u2019t imagine life without my own faith, but I also cannot imagine telling someone they do not have a right to their own honest religious journey.<\/p>

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This last session the Texas Legislature passed a bill that will require the 10 Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom in Texas.\u00a0 The Governor signed that bill into law. I oppose this law on the grounds that the \u201cestablishment of religion\u201d is bad for the honest pursuit of faith and therefore bad for people.\u00a0 A passionate belief in the sacred right to religious freedom, the right of every person to pursue their own faith honestly without pressure or even a nudge from the government, is a big part of my \u201cwhy.\u201d<\/p>

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What\u2019s my \u201cWhy?\u201d Part 2: What\u2019s my problem with the 10 Commandments? What\u2019s my \u201cWhy?\u201d Part 2: What\u2019s my problem with the 10 Commandments? This post originally appeared on\u00a0Dead Dillo. (In Part 1 of this series I said\u2026 \u00a0 I think quite a lot about politics these days. Some of you know I even went […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-1160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-managing-our-freedoms-wisely"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1160"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2548,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1160\/revisions\/2548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ashleybeanthornton.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}