“Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."
Like with Commandment I, we see immediately that this Commandment is completely contrary to our Constitution. Under the First Amendment, anyone is allowed to make any image ree wishes. You may recall a number of years back when the artist, Andres Serrano, exhibited a photograph of a crucifix submerged in his own urine. Although there was a major controversy over the fact that his work was being supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, no one ever suggested that he shouldn’t be permitted to make that clearly “graven image” (whatever “graven” means). The government of the United States includes Free Expression within Free Speech, and thus protects that liberty as a fundamental constitutional right.1
Reference to such a controversial work, however, is unnecessary. Consider
NASA, The Discovery Channel and National Geographic. Every day those organizations can be found making likenesses of things that are “in heaven above, … in the earth beneath, [and] … in the water under the earth.” Don’t we thrive on such images? Aren’t they a cause for celebration as well as a basic part of our culture?
Why would any Supreme Being want people not to make such images, anyway? What sort of misanthropic entity would deny people the right to use the most magnificent parts of their beings – their brains – for pondering the glories of the universe it allegedly created? Surely any god would be able to foresee that humans would be employing that incredible organ for study and seeking out truth. Why would ree then make some inane ruling interfering with that most glorious endeavor?
At FACTS, we believe that every individual has the right to make any image ree sees fit. Others, of course, have the right to not be confronted with images they find offensive. But to stifle in any way the creation of ideas and the means for their exploration is the utter antithesis of productive life.
[1] A pattern seems to be forming in regard to the “the Decalogue is a foundational document in the formation of the United States” argument. That’s two out of two Commandments that are completely contrary to this nation’s basic principles.