Can democracy work without the 10 commandments?

1. 59

   tirelesstravelerposted 11 years ago

   Can democracy work without the 10 commandments?
   
   If it has, please give examples.
   
   

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2. 61

   MickSposted 11 years ago

   It worked for the Greeks, they invented it, they never had the ten commandments as a tenet.

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   1. 59

      tirelesstravelerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Look at Greece today. How long did democracy last? 200 years?

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      Josakposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Tireless traveler what do you mean?

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      MickSposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Tirelesstraveler, that is irelevant to the question which didn't queery the length of time a country had a democratic principle.

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   4. 59

      tirelesstravelerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Was it Winston Churchill who said "Those who refuse to look at history are destine to repeat it"? Either democracy can stand the test of time or not. If 200 years is the full run, why bother.

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3. 92

   Sherry Hewinsposted 11 years ago

   It seems to me democracy and the 10 commandments have very little to do with one another. The only ones that have anything in common with the laws in the US are; 6- You shall not murder, and 8- You shall not steal. And I don't think you have to be a Christian or believe in the ten commandments to know those things are wrong.

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   1. 59

      tirelesstravelerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I believe the 10 commandments were given to Abraham who became the father of the Jews first. Ishmael was his son too and he became the father of Islam.

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   2. 92

      Sherry Hewinsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      OK, I'm not dissing the commandments, but I still don't get what the connection is between the ten commandments and democracy? Our government is supposed to be separate from any religion.

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   3. 80

      rachellrobinsonposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Sherry, it seems to me like you do not understand the separation clause. It is not intended to put up a wall between religious men and government but rather to keep government from forcing any one religion on the people.

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   4. 59

      tirelesstravelerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Where profanity rules are enforced in schools there is no bullying. How many swear words include God in some way?

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   5. 70

      Sue St. Clairposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      The ten commandments were given to Moses, not Abraham. There are big differences in the covenants of Abraham and the one of Moses.

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      d.williamposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      contrary to common belief, the church/state separation was to make sure that religions did not interfere/influence politics - the main reason people fled to America in the first place.

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   7. 79

      Mitch Alanposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      d.williams, It was to make sure that the government did not dictate how people could or could not worship...it was NOT to keep faith out of the public domain...read the Founders.

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   8. 75

      d.williamposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      History has a way of being twisted to accommodate the beliefs of the individual. According to some experts our history is rewritten quite frequently to reflect the ideas of the current political neophytes.

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   9. 59

      tirelesstravelerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Sue you are so correct.  Moses not Abraham.  Brain Freeze.

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4. 60

   Josakposted 11 years ago

   Places like Japan and South Korea with strong democracies have basically no Christians and thus no ten commandments.

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   maxoxam41posted 11 years ago

   Any democracy shall ignore the ten commandments since it refers to religion therefore Christianity. I don't see why a "democracy" tainted with Islam is a theocracy whereas one imbibed with Christianity is a Democracy. Democracies are laical.

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6. 75

   d.williamposted 11 years ago

   Actually Sherry is right.  Democracy and the 10 commandments have nothing to do with each other.   The 10 commandments were basic rules to live by set up by religion, based on common sense and decency.  Democracy is a way of life where government is run for the people, by the people, without any religious considerations necessary.
   The 10 commandments are not a necessity for a democracy or a government.  Also, Christianity, per se, has nothing to do with democracy.  When christianity was founded (by the Roman Government) there was certainly no democracy there.

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   1. 59

      tirelesstravelerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      d. totally agree that the commandments are basic rules of common sense and decency. Could a case be made that the commandments came before decency?  Can you have democracy without decency?

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      Josakposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      No decency came long before the commandments, democracy grew completely separate to the commandments in Classical Greece thousands of years ago.

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7. 70

   Sue St. Clairposted 11 years ago

   Democracies amount to mob rule. Democracies do not work very long. When the majority finds out that it can force its will on the minority, things fall apart. The ten commandments would be a good counter weight to mob rule. I would not want to live under mob rule, and am thankful that the United States was historically NOT a democracy. If you think it is, you many need a better political education.

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   1. 75

      d.williamposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Democracy is the best available today.  the alternatives in the U.S. are theocracy or the current plutocracy, both of which do not serve the people. True Democracy can only work with the use of fundamental human/equal rights w/o religious influences

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      Sue St. Clairposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Democracy is not the best available. There is 'federated republic', which we began as. There is also 'confederations' and other models of government. Democracy occurs when things degrade to the point of mob rules, and is barely above street thuggery.

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   3. 75

      d.williamposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Your response amused me.  These are the descriptions of persons who think with their passions and not their intellects.

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   4. 59

      tirelesstravelerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I certainly hope Democracy isn't the best we can get d.william. Democracy when you follow it throughout history always evolves into a dictatorship and ultimately ruin.

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   5. 79

      Mitch Alanposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      d. Williams, a true democracy (which we are not) could only work for the benefit of it's people if all, or atleast a super majority, believed in a set of laws that transcend the whims of the individual...mob rules without that, fails...

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   6. 70

      Sue St. Clairposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I disagree. Democracy is not the best. A representative republic is very much preferred over a democracy since it preserves minority views, while democracy often tramples them and everything else in the name of 'THE PEOPLE'.

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8. 79

   Mitch Alanposted 11 years ago

   We do not live in a democracy.  We are a republican form of government.  This is not a R, but and r.  A democracy is a simple majority rules, but we utilize representatives and a 3 branch of government system, which is not a democracy.  You could call it a democratic republic, but not a simple democracy.
   The Founders primarily believed that it was not possible to have a nation of, by and for the PEOPLE if those people did not have Biblical underpinning.

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   1. 59

      tirelesstravelerposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Love it when people understand the US is a Republic.  While reading my son's history book I discovered they don't teach that anymore.

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      Mitch Alanposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Tireless, And if you point that out, then you get labeled at nut...

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   Minister Mitchposted 9 years ago

   No, a society where the basic commandments are not absolute, chaos or lawlessness will creep in.

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