Breaking my no board at work rule to make sure we all see this: [link]

I'm fuzzy on some of the commandments. Don't kill, adultery bad, don't steal, don't covet, don't bear false witness, honor your mom and dad. Those are pretty easy to remember.

Then there's, um. No God before me. No swears. No graven images? Uh. Something about the Sabbath?

(The Right To Bear Arms is a commandment, right?)

This is my boomstick!

I just don't get people who lack intellectual curiosity. How can you not want to know things about things?!

I used to work 3rd shift with a fundie preacher who supposedly attended seminary. He would try to proselytize to me and I'd try to engage him in honest theological debates. He always fell back with the excuse, "Well, you're obviously more educated than I am so I can't really answer that."

After that, I just started baiting him on purpose. It drove me crazy that he seemed to not care to pursue religious intellectual matters when he was in charge of a congregation's religious education.

(The Right To Bear Arms is a commandment, right?)

No, no -- the Right To Arm Bears is a commandment.

"I, the LORD your God, do love the ursine creatures above all others. Therefore, thou shalt provide all manner of artillery to every type of bear, except the Koalas, for lo, they are not actually bears. They are marsupials, you dumbasses, and I, the LORD your God, proclaim that thou shalt NOT provide marsupials with artillery, for lo, they are shifty and prone to switching loyalties without notice. In retrospect, I shouldn't have created them.

"Go now, and do as I have commanded."

I, the LORD your God, do love the ursine creatures above all others.

Nobody tell Stephen Colbert!

I STILL remember that the bear arms amendment is the second because of the device we used to remember it in high school (not teacher approved). There was this guy, Phil, who always wore muscle shirts (although he got in trouble). He did not have the right to Bare Arms, but he did have 2 arms!

I can recite neither the Bill of Rights nor the Ten Commandments. But I know what the Bill of Rights is, and I can tell you more or less what's in there. I know what the language of it sounds like, so I can tell you "thou shalt not" is something that doesn't happen in the Bill of Rights, and "a well-regulated militia" is something that doesn't happen in the Ten Commandments (no matter what translation you use!).

That's exactly my point. If someone asked me where does "the lord helps those who help themselves" comes from, I may not know the answer, but I know it's NOT a Commandment, due to the whole "Thou Shalt Not" business.

I'm very concerned about Prof. Prothero's (author of the LA Times article that Teppy linked) solution -- to allow Bible classes in public schools. A number of religions have been very influential in shaping the world as it is today, and I don't see how teaching only Christianity (even if it's possible to give an academic focus without proselytizing, which I'll give Prof. Prothero the benefit of the doubt on) creates any benefit.

The Bible was on our required reading list for AP English my senior year in high school. We only spent a day or two on it in school, and the teacher was ferociously clear about "This is not a religion class, we're not going to waste any time debating whether or not it's true, but you must have at least a nodding acquaintance with most of the stories because so very much of Western literature is playing with or responding to or challenging or expanding on these stories. If you don't know them at all, you're missing at least half the unspoken assumptions of at least half the other writers we're reading this year, and your AP test score will suffer."

I don't know how many teachers would be able or willing to teach it that way, but this guy did it beautifully, and within that very narrow context it was an excellent thing.

If someone asked me where does "the lord helps those who help themselves" comes from, I may not know the answer,

Although, if forced to guess, I would guess Ben Franklin, because I think that he and Shakespeare created every single saying ever.

I took a "Bible as Literature" elective in high school. I was a pretty firm atheist by that point.