Idealogian

They Shalt Not Steal

"An orthodox rabbi in Brooklyn was charged yesterday with stealing about $700,000 in federal grant money that was supposed to go toward building a school for disabled children." Horrible thing, if it did indeed happen, and worthy of discussion in its own right. But right now I'm more interested in the headline the New York Post placed above the story: "Thou Shalt Not Steal."

I'm not an avid reader of the New York Post (I happened to see someone reading it on the subway), but I'd bet they don't use that headline for every article about theft. Granted, there's a certain hypocrisy when a member of the clergy does something like this. But I suspect (though I could be wrong) that they wouldn't even use that headline if a priest or minister were accused of the very same crime. Current events in Alabama notwithstanding, I wonder if there's a perception by Christians that the Ten Commandments are "owned" by or relevant to the Jews in particular.

It brought to mind the time a Catholic co-worker asked me to explain the meaning of the holiday of Shavu'ot. After checking that he had a basic familiarity with Bible, I explained (in an admittedly simplified answer) that Shavu'ot is the anniversary of the day Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. He thought for a moment and responded, "Oh. So how come we don't do that? We believe in that too! At least I think we do."

What do most Christians do with the Ten Commandments? If they consider the other laws of the Old Testament to be no longer binding, are these any different? (I'm not suggesting good Christians think it's OK to steal; I know they don't. I'm simply wondering whether that's on the authority of the Ten Commandments or not, and why.)

Comments are invited.