In recent years many atheists in the United States have taken issue with the posting of the Ten Commandments in front of government buildings. They claim that the posting of the Ten Commandments violates their right to the separation of church and state.
It was our founding fathers in their immeasurable wisdom that granted all Americans the right to the separation of church and state. It was also those very same men who used the Ten Commandments as a guide when they outlined the laws of this country. It is that fact that strongly supports the idea that there can never be a complete separation from church and state. In order to have an unequivocal separation would require this country to completely rewrite the present laws based on something else besides the Ten Commandments.
Just in the same way that our flag represents this country's freedom, the posting of the Ten Commandments stand as a symbol of the values and beliefs that this country was build on. It is those set of values and beliefs that have contributed to making this country the one it is today.
Are the atheists really concerned with these plaques being a violation of their civil rights? Or is it just an elaborate cover up to hide some other more personal issue they have. Could it be that just the sight of the Ten Commandments causes them to question their lack of faith?
We as christians should be saddened and concerned by the removal of these plaques and monuments. They are, however, just that plaques and monuments. The Christian faith lies within Jesus Christ not some plaque hanging from a courthouse wall or standing on the steps of one. So if the law makers choose to remove them, then so be it. We as christians have Jesus living within our hearts. That is something no atheist or judge can ever take away.
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:39
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Jean, You have treated this controversy very well, especially as it moves to the conclusion--we have Jesus in our hearts, and no one can take that away. It should cause Christians to become more passionate and unrestrained in worshiping Jesus Christ, and living an exemplary life that calls non-Christians to want what we have.