# Sarah Palin: American law should be based on "God of the Bible and the Ten Commandments" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 11, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098 "2010-05-11T21:17:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/21 "2010-05-12T00:55:53Z")
Can we arrest Palin for multiple counts of false witness bearing? She probably qualifies as a predicate felon by now so I think we can hit her with an enhanced sentence. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/22 "2010-05-12T01:04:58Z")
Seven. You need to work harder at this sin thing. You didn’t murder anyone and no adultery, either… Sarah Palin is stupid. I heard a snippet of a story about her coming to speak somewhere in Illinois soon and only ONE of the GOP candidates is bothering to attend. I find this refreshing. I’ve never been a huge GOP fan, but I’d like to think that there are intelligent, thinking persons in that party. Refusing to be a part of an event where Palin will be featured is a good start. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/23 "2010-05-12T01:09:59Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Because she presumes to lecture the world about religion when she has no fucking standing. She talks of morality. What right does she have? You can’t find a justification for a person to walk out of being a governor so she can make get rich while the time is hot. She is thinking of only herself every time she opens her mouth. Where does she get off to tell anybody about ethics and morality? If I created the impression I think she will sell anything and everything for money, then I am doing a good job. > I think she owed the people of Alaska the duties of governor. Even though she was a petty despot and twisted the office into something ugly and small, she still owed the voters her best. She walked out. That is inexcusable and unforgivable. If you can’t figure out why it’s not okay to call women whores for having premarital sex, we don’t want you on our side. ---
**Author:** ![nebco9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@nebco9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nebco9)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/24 "2010-05-12T01:14:29Z")
:eek: > [@gonzomax](#): > > Two generations of whores. Can you go back one more and find out about granny? I guess you would also refer to Obama’s mother as a whore too? Obama- born August 4, 1961 Parents married- February 2, 1961 Do the math. OMG, that makes Obama the son of a whore!!! :eek: Regarding Palin’s comments quoted by the OP- Oddly enough: -There are many depictions of the ten commandments, with and without Moses, outside and inside the supreme court building. -Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of the established orthodox churches in the colonies. -Congress has had paid(that means taxpayer’s dollars) chaplains since 1789 to open sessions with prayer and to provide spiritual guidance to members and their staffs upon request. John Jay, one of the framers of the Constitution, was appointed by George Washington in 1789 to be the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1797 he wrote, in a private letter to clergyman Jedidiah Morse: “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” Not saying Palin is right(that could never happen), but some of these things _seem_ to back her assertions. I’m also quite sure that most people here won’t agree. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/25 "2010-05-12T01:32:21Z")
> [@nebco9](#): > > Not saying Palin is right(that could never happen), but some of these things _seem_ to back her assertions. I’m also quite sure that most people here won’t agree. 🙂 Many things can “seem” to back her assertions, but there’s at least one thing that [pretty solidly refutes them](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/TreatyofTripoli.gif). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/26 "2010-05-12T01:58:33Z")
> [@nebco9](#): > > :eek: > > I guess you would also refer to Obama’s mother as a whore too? > > Obama- born August 4, 1961 > > Parents married- February 2, 1961 > > Do the math. > > OMG, that makes Obama the son of a whore!!! :eek: It does no such thing. Between the heat and the water in Kenya I’m just surprised she didn’t have a miscarr… oh fuck… WHERE’S ERASE?! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/27 "2010-05-12T02:00:43Z")
> [@LilShieste](#): > > Many things can “seem” to back her assertions, but there’s at least one thing that [pretty solidly refutes them](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/TreatyofTripoli.gif). I’ve actually heard Fundie-rightists take on that one before with all the same logical contortions of the Birthers. “It didn’t say that in Arabic because the Tripoli copy is different” and “it was a copying error” are two arguments against it that I’ve actually heard, though if George Washington and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had all personally spent their weekends carving it on the side of a mountain they’d no doubt claim it’s just how people talked then and didn’t mean what it sounds like. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/28 "2010-05-12T02:02:03Z")
It should surprise nobody that [American history is one more thing Sarah knows little about.](http://www.thenation.com/doc/20050221/allen) > [@](#): > > **Our Godless Constitution** > > By Brooke Allen > > This article appeared in the February 21, 2005 edition of _The Nation._ > February 3, 2005 > > It is hard to believe that George Bush has ever read the works of George Orwell, but he seems, somehow, to have grasped a few Orwellian precepts. The lesson the President has learned best–and certainly the one that has been the most useful to him–is the axiom that if you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. One of his Administration’s current favorites is the whopper about America having been founded on Christian principles. Our nation was founded not on Christian principles but on Enlightenment ones. God only entered the picture as a very minor player, and Jesus Christ was conspicuously absent. > > Our Constitution makes no mention whatever of God. The omission was too obvious to have been anything but deliberate, in spite of Alexander Hamilton’s flippant responses when asked about it: According to one account, he said that the new nation was not in need of “foreign aid”; according to another, he simply said “we forgot.” But as Hamilton’s biographer Ron Chernow points out, Hamilton never forgot anything important. > > In the eighty-five essays that make up The Federalist, God is mentioned only twice (both times by Madison, who uses the word, as Gore Vidal has remarked, in the “only Heaven knows” sense). In the Declaration of Independence, He gets two brief nods: a reference to “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God,” and the famous line about men being “endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.” More blatant official references to a deity date from long after the founding period: “In God We Trust” did not appear on our coinage until the Civil War, and “under God” was introduced into the Pledge of Allegiance during the McCarthy hysteria in 1954 [see Elisabeth Sifton, “The Battle Over the Pledge,” April 5, 2004]. > > In 1797 our government concluded a “Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States of America and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli, or Barbary,” now known simply as the Treaty of Tripoli. Article 11 of the treaty contains these words: > > > [@](#): > > > > As the Government of the United States…is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion–as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity of Musselmen–and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries. > > This document was endorsed by Secretary of State Timothy Pickering and President John Adams. It was then sent to the Senate for ratification; the vote was unanimous. It is worth pointing out that although this was the 339th time a recorded vote had been required by the Senate, it was only the third unanimous vote in the Senate’s history. There is no record of debate or dissent. The text of the treaty was printed in full in the Philadelphia Gazette and in two New York papers, but there were no screams of outrage, as one might expect today. > > The Founding Fathers were not religious men, and they fought hard to erect, in Thomas Jefferson’s words, “a wall of separation between church and state.” John Adams opined that if they were not restrained by legal measures, Puritans–the fundamentalists of their day–would “whip and crop, and pillory and roast.” The historical epoch had afforded these men ample opportunity to observe the corruption to which established priesthoods were liable, as well as “the impious presumption of legislators and rulers,” as Jefferson wrote, “civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time.” ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/29 "2010-05-12T02:08:39Z")
> [@nebco9](#): > > John Jay, one of the framers of the Constitution, was appointed by George Washington in 1789 to be the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1797 he wrote, in a private letter to clergyman Jedidiah Morse: > > “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” There was something else he proposed, it was that Catholics should never hold office. > **[CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Knownothingism](https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08677a.htm)** > > Article on this 1850s United States anti-immigrant movement > [@](#): > > Thus, John Jay, of New York, who afterwards became Chief Justice of the United States, succeeded in fastening upon the Constitution of his own state a provision which denied the privilege of citizenship to every foreign-born Catholic unless he would first abjure and renounce all allegiance to the pope in matters ecclesiastical. This provision remained in force until 1821, when the power and influence of the Federal party had well nigh disappeared. So Catholics were not christian or American enough it seems. This Catholic bit is relevant to the discussion in a curious way: you have never wondered how different the ten commandments are for Catholics and protestants? Just ask what is the fourth commandment. So, instead of dealing with that can of worms it is better to drop this idea, if you think that this is just secular forces against christian ones, you really, really do not want to even imagine what would happen if people like Palin get their way and impose bible law on all Americans. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/30 "2010-05-12T02:13:27Z")
I often wonder if that whole “founded on Christian principles” thing wasn’t to somehow connect fundamentalism and patriotism. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/31 "2010-05-12T02:13:46Z")
Go on ahead, brother. You know, those precious wishes of going back in time: I’d give all of mine up several lives over to get Thomas Jefferson up on the podium to discuss a wee bit of American History with Sarah Palin. ---
**Author:** ![LilShieste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@LilShieste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilShieste)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/32 "2010-05-12T02:19:59Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’ve actually heard Fundie-rightists take on that one before with all the same logical contortions of the Birthers. “It didn’t say that in Arabic because the Tripoli copy is different” and “it was a copying error” are two arguments against it that I’ve actually heard, though if George Washington and John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had all personally spent their weekends carving it on the side of a mountain they’d no doubt claim it’s just how people talked then and didn’t mean what it sounds like. Wow. I’d always kind of wondered what some of the rebuttals to this response were, but was too worried that my blood pressure would go through the roof if I Googled it. (Sounds like that was a good idea…) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/33 "2010-05-12T02:22:10Z")
> [@nebco9](#): > > … There are many depictions of the ten commandments, with and without Moses, outside and inside the supreme court building. … Do you know why? Here’s a hint, it’s about something other than religion. [This](http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/capital.asp) might help. CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/34 "2010-05-12T02:24:19Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > If you can’t figure out why it’s not okay to call women whores for having premarital sex, we don’t want you on our side. Didn’t say it was OK. But when I went to high school that was the terminology for a girl who had sex. I am not defending it merely relating it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/35 "2010-05-12T02:27:30Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > What’s the difference between a whore and a slut? > > A whore has better financial skills. What’s the difference between a slut and a bitch? A slut will fuck anybody. A bitch will fuck anybody but me. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/36 "2010-05-12T02:29:53Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Didn’t say it was OK. But when I went to high school that was the terminology for a girl who had sex. I am not defending it merely relating it. Are you retarded? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/37 "2010-05-12T02:36:05Z")
> [@](#): > > John Jay, one of the framers of the Constitution, was appointed by George Washington in 1789 to be the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1797 he wrote, in a private letter to clergyman Jedidiah Morse: > > “Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” And by Christian, he meant Protestant. Jay hated Catholics and tried to make it illegal for them to hold any public office unless they renounced allegiance to the Pope and took a loyalty oath. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/38 "2010-05-12T02:42:14Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Are you retarded? Ok…OK I may have gone a sliver too far. Palin lecturing about ethics and religion pisses me off. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/39 "2010-05-12T02:50:36Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Ok…OK I may have gone a sliver too far. Palin lecturing about ethics and religion pisses me off. Well, she is obviously a hypocrite and imho unfit for public office. If we could express this in a way that isn’t misogynistic, that would be awesome. kthnxbai. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2010, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098/40 "2010-05-12T03:01:12Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > … Why is she treated like such an oracle by teabaggers?.. The male teabaggers want to teabag her. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-palin-american-law-should-be-based-on-god-of-the-bible-and-the-ten-commandments/539098.md?page=3)