Christians Demand Removal of Ten Commanments

Oh wait, "satanic" ten commandments.

Wingnutdaily brings us the story of a Christian group called The Resistance, and their crusade to take down the Georgia Guidestones. Browsing the website of The Resistance reveals them to be a kooky mix of 9/11 truth, new world order conspiracy crap, and Christian fundamentalism - pretty much a perfect storm of self-delusion. Normally considering the source I would just ignore this, but the story does give some insight into the kind of thinking that allows people to believe this stuff. The comedic value is pretty high too. Continued below the fold.

"We have atheists and Satanists getting the Bible's Ten Commandments removed from public property," said Mark Dice, spokesman for the group The Resistance, "yet the satanic Georgia Guidestones have stood for decades, and nobody seems to care. Well, we do."

Lets look and see exactly what these "satanic" commandments are.

• Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
• Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity.
• Unite humanity with a living new language.
• Rule passion – faith – tradition – and all things with tempered reason.
• Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
• Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
• Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
• Balance personal rights with social duties.
• Prize truth – beauty – love – seeking harmony with the infinite.
• Be not a cancer on the Earth – leave room for nature – leave room for nature.

Ok. The first two unnerve me a little bit because of the potential pitfalls of eugenics, but in principle they would make for a sustainable society and go a long way towards preserving the environment. The rest of the stuff seems innocent enough, though for all intents and purposes most of them are impossible in our society. I'm having a hard time seeing where Mr. Dice gets satanic out of that.

If I were to be charitable and assume that Mr. Dice actually understands what LaVeyan Satanism is and what it represents, then describing the monument as satanic is tenuous at best.

LaVeyan Satanism favors indulgence over abstinence, and emphasizes individualism. Thus the statement "Balance personal rights with social duties" does not fit into a satanic philosophy. Some of the other "commandments" such as "Avoid petty laws and useless officials" do fit into a satanic worldview, but that is almost universally accepted. Except by useless officials and petty lawmakers of course.

I am going to assume that Mr. Dice does not understand LaVeyan Satanism and he actually meant people who worship the biblical Satan. The Satan of the bible is a creature of destruction and discord, its hard to see where guidelines towards living in harmony with nature fit in with that. It seems most likely to me that Mr. Dice simply assumes anything that doesn't fit within his fundamentalist worldview is the work of the devil and thus satanic.

All that said, even if this guy is a wacked out conspiracy theorist it doesn't mean hes wrong about removing the monument. Religious symbols should not be on public land. I don't know if this monument should be considered religious or not. It seems to be some kind of vague new-agey type of deal that may or may not qualify as a religious symbol. However, the establishment clause of the first amendment is one of the most important principles in the constitution, so we should err on the side of caution and not put anything remotely religious on public land.

Dice told WND his group is contacting officials of the Elberton community, trying to rally citizens of the town to pressure their leaders and hoping to generate grassroots opposition from around the country. Since the land the monument sits upon is owned by a private trust and is not public property, Dice said, the battle against the monument will have to take place in the court of public opinion, rather than a court of law.

Oh.