Published February 18, 2005 - Glendale News-Press IN THEORY Ten tenets command law debate In March, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the constitutionality of displaying the Ten Commandments in courthouses in Kentucky and at the Texas State Capitol. Do you think copies of the Ten Commandments on such properties should be protected, or is displaying the Ten Commandments an unconstitutional state endorsement of religion? They can't go after the Ten Commandments, because then they'd have go after television, movies and free speech in general. After all, aren't we already being fed a steady diet of the top 10 anti-commandments? And the venue is much more intrusive than the lobby of a courthouse; it's being pumped right into our homes right over government-regulated/ sanctioned airwaves. After a couple of hours in front of prime-time network TV, does anyone really buy the idea that it's wrong to steal, to commit adultery, to covet a neighbor's wife or even to kill? And if anyone misses an episode on television, the message comes through loud and clear in news reports of the war, by radio signals picked up in our cars and the movie theater marquees where an R-rating guarantees box-office revenues and DVD sales for years to come. To me, the displaying of the Ten Commandments is just another way of saying, "equal time" to all that is being thrown at us. I'm not a fan of any mandatory teaching of religion, nor do I want the state to tell us which religion is preferable or correct. Especially as an Armenian priest, I'm sensitive to it; my history is filled with religious coercion by intolerant people and tribes. But in this case, we're talking about displaying a plaque. These have become the bases for our civil codes and laws. That these words appear in the Bible is inconsequential to the debate. A reading of the Declaration of Independence is in order for this discussion. We are a country founded on a revolt for free religious expression; however, there's no doubt that the higher principles, as idealistic as they may be, are there to inspire our imagination and to maximize the human potential. "We hold these truths to be self-evident," writes Jefferson, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." FATHER VAZKEN MOVSESIAN