Louisiana House Panel Edits Ten Commandments

Louisiana's House Governmental Affairs Committee yesterday decided to edit the Ten Commandments, according to a report by The (Baton Rouge) Advocate. Senate Bill 476 permits the display in public buildings of the Ten Commandments along with other specified historical documents containing religious references. (See prior posting.) The Senate bill sets out the exact wording permitted, and the House Committee found itself debating whether the Catholic, Protestant or Jewish versions of the Decalogue should be used. In the end it compromised with a bit of tinkering. While it primarily used the Protestant King James version, it changed "Thou shall not kill" to "Thou shall not murder", which is the way Jewish translations generally render the commandment. It changed the King James spelling of "honour" to "honor" in reference to honoring one's father and mother. The panel then also debated whether to include"thou shalt not make unto the any graven idol", a phrase that does not appear in the Catholic version of the Commandments. The Committee sent its syncretistic version on to the full House.