Should they be posted in Court Houses and other public buildings or moved to private property?

Personally I feel that they should be left in court houses, schools, all public buildings.
Removing them doesn't make them any less true.
In the end, it comes down to whether they are posted in our hearts.

But I can see the point of removing them, I mean the parts about "thou shalt not kill" are great for public buildings, "thou shalt not steal" should definitely be in the schools <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> , but when it gets super religious, like the part about no other gods and statues, well that can be VERY offensive for those who are not christian. So it's really all a matter of perspective. gosh, hard topic, Maybe have an assortment of religous sayings (from lots of different religions) that hold up the good stuff, like not stealing or hurting others.

I see your point, but I wonder who would decide what would go up and what wouldn't.
You are right, It is a tough subject. Thats why I would like to hear from alot of people.

Maybe there could be a forum of all the religous leaders, who say what is and is not offensive to them, before it goes to congress.... (of course then we will have all kinds of interesting arguements from the forum)

Wouldn't it be interesting, in a court house, to post all sorts of ancient law codes, such as the Ten Commandments, Hammurabi's code and so on? A study in the laws that influenced western civilization! Then the Ten Commandments could be posted, but might seem less offensive if it was part of a history lesson. I personally don't get offended by religious beliefs from anyone being posted, but I know some people are touchy. This would resolve the issue there.

I had some friends over last weekend and we were talking about the Puritans. When they came over from England their main aim was to get away from the religious persecution and to set up a new area where people could just be happy in whatever religion it was that they chose. But it was only like 20 years after they landed that already people were leaving the 'core group' to found their own towns all over Massachusetts, because they didn't think their way of religion was being respected.

I think the US is *way* better than many other countries in trying to respect religious differences, but I really and truly think it's *very important* to our country to be as fostering as possible to every religious point of view. Someone should not feel uncomfortable at all, in a religious way, when they do "country business" like filing taxes, or paying parking fines, or anything else. That should be religious-neutral.

I think it's easy to say sometimes that "it's just a sign" or "they shouldn't be too sensitive" but it's that "they" that bothers me. We're all Americans, and this is our government. It should be completely neutral as far as religion goes. Someone should be able to worship any flavor of religion they want, and when they do American government things, they shouldn't be reminded that they're "not one of the normal people" ...

It's not a matter of the commandments being good or bad. It's that they are *Christian*. It'd be like if you walked into government buildings to pay your taxes and there were images of Mohammed on the walls everywhere. No pictures of other people, just Mohammed. And everywhere you went, it was either a Mohammed picture or nothing. It just isn't appropriate ... it's not that Mohammed is *bad*, but by always choosing to put up his photo, you're sending a message.

Lisa, you brought up some very good points.
One thing did make me think -- and remember that the Ten Commandments are not actually just Christian. They are also Jewish.
Start with Abraham. His son's were Isaac and Ishmael.Isaac's sons were Jacob and Esau. Jacob's name was changed to Israel and he became the father of the nation of Israel. Ishmael became the Father of the nation of Islam. I'm wandering :rolleyes: but I think its interesting the the two nations are still fighting. (If you read in Genesis--they didn't get along as children and Ishmael was cast out.)
Anyway the Ten Commandments came thru Moses, given to the Jewish nation.
So they are also Jewish tradition.
<img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

That's very true! And in fact we were at a Jewish friend's home last year during ... Passover I think. And I wondered, why don't Christians celebrate passover? The Christians *were* Jews until they "took it to the next level" I suppose you could say. They expanded the religious teachings by adding on the Christ elements. But until that point they were the same. So shouldn't all of the traditional Jewish holidays, since they are all pre-Christ in nature, also be celebrated by Christians?

I think most Christians who study the Bible honor Jewish holidays, but usually don't celebrate them.
(First of all I'm not an expert in Old Testament history !)
For instance, Passover commemorates the release of the Jewish nation from captivity. (The angel of death passed over the homes of the Jews who applied the blood of the sacrificial lamb to their doorposts.) The plague(death of the first born) hit the Egytians(no blood of the lamb)
Celebrating Passover is also symbolic of waiting for the Messiah to come and release them from captivity.
As Christians, we are not waiting for the Messiah. We have the blood of the lamb.- Christ dying on the cross and the resurrection giving eternal life (freedom)
When Christ came He also opened the door to God to all nations -gentiles too, where the Jewish religion was limited to Jews as God's chosen people (with a few exceptions the in Old Testament)So even thought Jesus was a Jew and the One true God is the God of the Jewish nation, Jesus fulfilled Jewish law and created a New Thing.
Remember I'm no expert and definately not an expert on the Jewish religion ! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

One more thing that just 'dawned' on me. Jewish holidays were originally formed around sacrifices for sin.since these were animals, the sacrifice had to be made repeatedly at specified times. Jesus was the ultimate and last sacrifice, making animal sacrifice obsolete. Easter is celebrated in place of Passover. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />