"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain," Exodus 20:7.
The Dutch association against swearing is also running a national billboard campaign to advise people that the Bible outlaws swearing.
Swearing, obviously, is understood to take God's name in vain -- i.e., to invoke God's name lightly; naming God without intention to speak seriously about him; to use God's name without theological impact or meaning.
I seriously doubt that America's religious supremecists are preparing to enact laws against blasphemy, but if they should, it would be interesting to see if our nation's second national motto passes muster (the first motto was E Pluribus Unum). An appeals court in Virginia recently ruled that the motto, "In God We Trust" is constitutional.
As approvingly, if not gleefully, reported by the Southern Baptist Press -- here's the logic of the court's ruling:
The Fourth Circuit has "heretofore characterized the phrase, 'In God We Trust,' when used as the national motto on coins and currency, as a 'patriotic and ceremonial motto' with 'no theological or ritualistic impact.'"
4 comments:
...that would be an interesting twist of irony should a proposition be put forth by the religious right....the law of unintended consequence or perhaps better said "you don't know what you are asking for". I shake my head sometimes and wonder why the SBC chooses to go down certain paths. I just want the yell "DON'T GO THERE. THE BRIDGE IS OUT AHEAD. CAPTIVITY NOT FREEDOM LIES AHEAD". (Sorry for the shouting.)
Smallglimpses,
I don't mind the shouting. Somebody needs to do something to wake people up.
The odd thing to me, is that the SBC would be happy that "In God we Trust" is stripped of it's awesome theological importance!
That would be interesting. Maybe they couldn't make movies and most people wouldn't be able to talk.
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