Yesterday, Equality Texas held a lobby day, the same day Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore stood on the Texas Capitol steps and called gays and lesbians perverts.
Moore first came to national attention in 2003 when he refused to remove a Ten Commandments monument, which he had commissioned, from the Alabama Judicial Building, despite a federal court order. He was removed from office but was re-elected to the same post in 2012.
In Texas, we have our own Ten Commandments monument that stands behind the Capitol building, off to the west. What I love about the Texas 10 commandments is that it lists 11 commandments — but we have to do everything bigger in Texas.
Here’s a list of the 11 commandments as written on the monument or you can click and enlarge the photo and read for yourself:
The Ten Commandments
I AM the LORD thy God
1- Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2- Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images.
3- Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God in vain.
4- Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5- Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
6- Thou shalt not kill.
7- Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8- Thou shalt not steal.
9- Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
10- Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house.
11- Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, not his maidservant, nor his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbors.
That’s nine thou shalt nots, one remember and one honor. Eleven.
Of course, No. 6 is mistranslated. If you couldn’t kill, how would you justify the death penalty, stoning gays to death or even eating meat. The Hebrew word teertzach means “murder,” not “kill.” You shouldn’t murder.
But where did they get 11 commandments? The last two in the original is just one and involves coveting all property — houses and wives. By dividing them out, it acknowledges that women aren’t on the same level as physical property. No, women are on the level of cattle and even servants and should be treated as such.
I really object to what seems like a simple change to the original 10 commandments because in 1961, when this monument was built, they redefined marriage as it’s existed since biblical times.
Oh, and more about Lobby Day in Friday’s Dallas Voice.
