America is facing a war on two fronts these days; half a world away we’re sending young soldiers to die fighting democracy-hating right-wing religious fundamentalists, while here at home... well, democracy-hating right-wing religious fundamentalists are whittling away at the very fabric of our society from within the halls of Congress. Well meaning but malinformed senators and representatives are tripping over one another to see who can be the first among them to replace America’s own Ten Commandments with those of the monotheistic cults of Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

As subjects of the British Crown, American colonists in the late eighteenth century were required to belong to the Church of England. They weren’t required to believe in any of that church’s teaching but one; that the King ruled by divine right by virtue of kinship with the Christian god through the bloodline of Jesus Christ. So it was throughout all of the European nations, the marriages of royal families into the Merovingian line, recognized to this day in treaty by the Church of Rome as the bloodline of Jesus, allowed every royal house to claim that same divine right to rule in any way they saw fit. It had taken a thousand years for the intermarrying of all the royal houses of the European continent with the daughters, grand-daughters and great-grand-daughters of Dagobert II, and those thousand years are referred to today as ‘the dark ages.’

On the heels of those dark ages came the neo-pagan renaissance of Florence, Italy. Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo and their contemporaries, employed by the Holy Emperor as well as by the Pope, were the first men in generations who had the fortunate happenstance to be well read enough to know that the pandemic cult of the christ was an hoax to control the masses and were also well enough placed in society to publicly thumb their noses at the theocracy empowered by the enforcement of that cult’s dogma.

Through their patrons and employers, these intellectual inventors of the Renaissance were granted access to banned books and other sources of forbidden and long-forgotten knowledge, wisdom and beliefs. At a time when it was popularly believed that the Earth was flat, they learned that the ancient Greeks had computed the diameter and circumference of the planet. They rediscovered, painted and sculpted the old gods that the christ cult had suppressed for a thousand years and reintroduced the concept of democracy to the world.

Enlightened and inspired by that handful of Italians and the intellectual curiosity they had infected European society with, thousands of eighteenth century colonial Americans rejected outright the silly notion of rule-by-divine-right and set up an altogether new form of government based upon one model from the ancient Greeks and another already in use by their contemporary indigenous counterparts. It wasn’t easy. First they had to wage war against their rightful King, who commanded one of the largest and most powerful armies on the planet at that time.

While the British loudly proclaimed that [their] god was on their side, the rebel American colonists, with the aid of hundreds - if not thousands - of ‘new-world’ natives, fought against the very concept of a government based upon a superstitious belief in an imaginary being. Without ever having proclaimed to have any imaginary friends on their side, the formerly British colonists in America succeeded in their rebellion and set about to establish the first democratic government since Athens fell to Rome. As Athens had the goddess Athena as patroness, so America was similarly to have an ancient pagan goddess (from the Roman pantheon) as a national patroness (3 hints: a. her statue is on Ellis Island, b. she is the only divinity named in the Constitution, and c. other than Mercury, messenger of the gods, she is the only divinity to appear on American coinage).

The leaders of the revolution composed a set of documents based in part on English Common Law, in part on the documents of the Iroquois - Algonquian federation, and in part on what they had learned for themselves in the long war they had just fought. This set of documents was quite intentionally composed to govern the future of the newly founded nation. They provided for the nation’s administrators and lawmakers to be chosen by the People, not by an invisible old man who lives in the sky. It provided for the People to remove their elected officials from office for a variety of reasons, and made the People sovereign over the government.

These documents, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, are - and were meant to be - America’s holy books, and that most special part of the Constitution, that part set apart and known today as ‘amendments’ (although they were part of the Constitution when it was ratified) comprise - and were meant to comprise - America’s own Ten Commandments. They are the ten Articles of the Bill of Rights.

Unlike the superstitious cultists who’s imaginary invisible friend will torture and burn all nonbelievers in some intolerable imaginary afterlife, nobody is going to threaten anyone beyond the grave for violating any of America’s very own Ten Commandments - although those who do violate them are facing some serious jail time in the here-and-now life. There is no controversy over teaching these ten commandments in public schools, no argument over their translation from ancient Hebrew into English, no protests or complaints over the separation of church and state stemming from their display in government buildings. They are, in fact the ‘law of the land’ that the Torah, Bible and Koran all instruct their respective faithful to follow.

If, as so many people so vehemently insist, it is necessary to put a moral code on public display, if so great a portion of our society have forgotten the rules of proper behavior and common decency that there must be reminders at strategic locations, in public buildings and schools, we don’t need to use those of any one cult over those of any other; this is America, and we have our own.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by the oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of or and limb; nor shall be compelled to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of common law.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.