ten commandments

many Christians cry and complain because the government won't allow us to put up the ten commandments in public schools. but what's the reasoning behind this? what does it mean for high school Christians?

the birth of a nation
let's go back to the beginning of our government. our founding fathers escaped away from an oppressive government to set up their own government. they were Christians and founded this nation believing in God. they also realized that they weren't the only ones being oppressed by their governments for their religion. they decided to keep church and state separate so that no one in this nation would feel the need to escape like they did. freedom of religion was also established because they didn't want to force people to be Christians. they wanted a land of freedom.

judges' decision
skip forward to modern times. many courts including the supreme court have ruled that the ten commandments in public schools is unconstitutional. their thinking behind this is that public schools are run by the government. if religious icons are placed inside public schools, then it means that the government supports them thus violating separation of church and state. private schools can still post whatever they want because they are not run by the government. the judges didn't do this because they hate Christians, they did it because it's the way our nation was founded.

work-around
to be able to post the ten commandments on the wall of a public school there are two choices: forfeit our freedom of religion and abide by a state religion (and hope that it's a doctrine of Christianity that is Biblically sound) OR give equal wall space to all religions including islam and satan worshippers. the problem with the first is the existance of so many religions in this country. many religious sects and groups would (and already have) resort to violence to promote their religion and destroy any others. no religion would be able to simply claim a majority thus resulting in many unhappy citizens and an oppressive government. bad idea. the second choice would not work either because of the same reason. if the ten commandments were allowed on the wall, then many other religions would put their beliefs on the wall. the ten commandments would be engulfed by the multitude of other religions, and the wall becomes a competition among religions to get the students' attention and draw them to a particular religion. i realize that this is essentially what quad-chalking and flyer hanging is on a college campus. the difference is that posters on high school wall involves overturning a major supreme court decision. this would draw national attention to the situation and many religions would jump at the opportunity to influence young minds with their religion. on college campuses, no one has complained loud enough so it is still permitted, though on a smaller, lesser-known level.

high school challenge
this should not be a problem but a challenge. this gives high school Christians opportunity to live their Christian lives louder rather than pointing to the poster on the wall and telling someone to live by that. quad-chalking and flyers on college campuses do not intend to convert people to Christianity alone, but they open doors for confused people to have someone to talk to about it and a Bible to turn to for answers. is it helpful for college Christians? yes. is it necessary to spread the Gospel? no. high school Christians have a high calling to live their lives by example because they don't have other ways to open doors to unbelievers.

so what?
so let's pray for high school Christians to let their lights shine, because our prayers and God's grace are the only help they get to share their faith with their classmates and teachers. what does this mean to us Christians who are past high school? if high school Christians who are generally young in their faith have a calling that high, where does that leave us older Christians who are in college or working? we each need to examine ourselves and find our own callings. God has a plan for each of us and it's not to sit back and let high school Christians or campus flyers do all the work. we each have our own work to do, but let's not forget to support the work of our fellow Christians.

these are just my thoughts on the subject. i'd love to hear comments, criticism, etc.