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The Ten Commandments
More modern rewrites;
Alternative guides to good behavior
Sponsored link.
This list is continued from a previous list of rewrites....
Some attempts to rewrite the Ten Commandments:
 | Ellory F. Schempp, was the plaintiff in the case Abington
v. Schempp. The case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court who declared
in 1963 that Bible devotions in U.S. public school are unconstitutional.
He suggests nine commandments:
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| Anonymous: A series of nineteen "instructions for life" are found throughout the Internet and are generally attributed to the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, exiled head of state and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. The Dalai Lama actually had nothing to do with the list. The nineteen instructions: |
"...are a truncated version of a much longer list [of 45 instructions] that worked its way around the Internet in 1999 in conjunction with an ASCII art representation of a 'Nepalese Good Luck Tantra Totem' (the list was also sometimes identified as being a 'modern Japanese good luck tantra'):
- Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
- When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
- Follow the three Rs:
 | Respect for self, |
| Respect for others, and |
| Responsibility for all your actions. |
Alternative guides to good behavior:
| Laura Darlene Lansberry comments:
She rewords some of the original Ten Commandments, and adds some others, like:
| ||||
| Wiccans follow the Wiccan Rede: "A'in it harm no one, do what thou wilt." That is, one is free to do whatever one wishes, as long as it does not harm anyone, including themselves. Most believe in the Three-fold Law -- that any evil or good one does towards others will return with three times the intensity to the initiator. These two taken together make it unlikely that a Wiccan will be tempted to hurt others. | ||||
| The United Communities of Spirit is a global interfaith network, "linking people of diverse faiths and beliefs who want to work with others to build a better world." They produced an initial sketch of principles which will be shaped and refined in the future through dialogue. Their "Philosophy of Network Community" discusses aspects of inclusivity, diversity, dialogue, cooperation and team-building, trust, unity-in-diversity, ethic of reciprocity, individual freedom, democracy, science, healing and forgiveness, personal responsibility, objective interpretation, wisdom and virtue. Although intended for group work, most of it is applicable to personal use. 4 | ||||
| Interfaith Voices for Peace and Justice have a page of statements which describe members' "Philosophy of Interfaith Relations". Although intended to guide people in ecumenical and inter-faith activities, many of the statements apply equally well to personal activities. 5 | ||||
| Ayn Rand, in her book "Atlas Shrugged" wrote: |
"If I were to speak your kind of language, I would say that man's only moral commandment is: Thou shalt think. But a 'moral commandment' is a contradiction in terms. The moral is the chosen, not the forced; the understood, not the obeyed. The moral is the rational, and reason accepts no commandments." 6
References:
- Ellery Schempp, "The Democratic Way," The First Parish in Bedford, Unitarian Universalist, 2004-FEB-01, at: http://home.comcast.net/
- "Hello Dalai," Rumor Has it, at: http://www.snopes.com/
- L.D. Lansberry, "Ten rational commandments," at: http://www.casagrande.com/~gallae/ten.htm
- United Communities of Spirit at: http://origin.org/ucs/index/
- Interfaith Voices for Peace and Justice at: http://interfaithvoices.org/ifv.cfm
- Harry Binswanger, "The Ten Commandments vs. America," Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY, 2005-MAR-02, at: http://www.courier-journal.com/
Copyright © 2000 to 2007 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2000-MAR-6
Latest update: 2007-SEP-25
Author: B.A. Robinson
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