Is the foundation of our legal system based on the ten commandments?
I got this email forwarded to me with a bunch of answers to the question "Did you know?" It has a caricature of Andy Rooney so I guess it is from one of his rants or something. Its about the Ten Commandments and our government and it came with a bunch of pictures after each answer but I'll just post the answers. I haven't verified any of these claims but they seem accurate and there's pictures in the email so it looks to be true.
Did you know?
As you walk up the steps to the building which houses the U.S. Supreme Court you can see near the top of the building a row of the world's law givers and each one is facing one in the middle who is facing forward with a full frontal view ... it is Moses and he is holding the Ten Commandments!
As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the two huge oak doors have the Ten Commandments engraved on each lower portion of each door
As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see the wall,
right above where the Supreme Court judges sit,
a display of the Ten Commandments
There are Bible verses etched in stone all over the Federal Buildings and Monuments in Washington, D.C.
James Madison, the fourth president, known as "The Father of Our Constitution" made the following statement:
quote:
"We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."
Patrick Henry, that patriot and Founding Father of our country said:
quote:
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ".
Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher, whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.
Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of the established orthodox churches in the colonies
Thomas Jefferson worried that the Courts would overstep their authority and instead of interpreting the law would begin making law . an oligarchy . the rule of few over many.
The very first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said:
quote:
"Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers."
The email then goes on about some off topic stuff about poeple bitching about the 10 commandments being portrayed, having 'in god we trust' on the money, and 'under god' in the pledge of allegience and how they should shut up, but theat isn't why I bring this up.
The quote from the OP reminded me of this email and I thought I'd post it for y'all.