Think most Americans know the Ten Commandments?
Think again.
Despite living in a country with a rich and still prevalent Christian heritage – as evident from the Pledge of Allegiance to the nation’s motto, “In God We Trust” – Americans were found to be more familiar with the ingredients of the McDonald’s Big Mac hamburger than some of the Ten Commandments.
In a new study conducted by Kelton research in conjunction with the upcoming release of the animated feature film, The Ten Commandments, 80 percent of respondents knew "two all beef patties" were among the ingredients of the Big Mac but only six out of ten could identify "Thou shalt not kill” as one of the Ten Commandments. Also, while 43 percent of respondents – including those who regularly attend worship – could recall Bobby and Peter, two of the least-recalled names from the Brady Bunch, they were less familiar with two of the least recalled commandments – "Remember the Sabbath" (34 percent) and "Do not make any false idols" (29 percent).
“This gradual erosion of our knowledge of the Ten Commandments is a pretty serious issue,” said Paul Lauer, founder and president of Motive Entertainment, the group marketing the Ten Commandments film. He adds that he was shocked because these were statistics coming from a country that is known as “a Christian nation.”
Lauer, along with makers of the Ten Commandments movie, say they hope the film will inspire Americans to improve their literacy of the Ten Commandments and the Bible. The film, produced by Promenade Pictures, is slated to hit theaters Oct. 19.
The family-friendly film tells the story of Moses, the reluctant prophet of God, who leads the enslaved Chosen People from Egypt to the Promised Land. During the journey, Moses, who is also accompanied by his brother Aaron and sister Miriam, delivers the Ten Commandments given to him by God to the people.
Ed Naha, the film screenwriter of The Ten Commandments, said that one of the unique aspects of the movie is its portrayal of Moses.
“He was actually a very reluctant prophet,” said Naha, who also wrote Honey I Shrunk The Kids. “He tries to talk himself out of the job. It's actually a leap of faith for Moses to accept the job of being God's voice.”
The film is unlike other movies carrying the Ten Commandments theme not only because it works more from actual scripture but also because it traces the development of Moses as he gets more comfortable, more assertive, and more connected with his calling, according to Naha.
“Our Moses is very close to the Moses found in the Bible,” he added.
Naha said his depiction of God in the film is also different from what people might expect. While many people considers God to be “vengeful” and “angry” in the Old Testament, Naha, who grew up Catholic, said he tried to portray God as a fatherly figure.
Cindy Bond, president of Promenade Pictures and producer of the animated movie, said her decision to make The Ten Commandments stemmed out of moral duty for her faith and nation.
“As a mother, as an industry profession, a wife… and someone who grew up in a Christian household, I watched the erosion of our values in our society,” explained Bond.
“The Ten Commandments are the entire backbone of the reason why the United States was started. It's important to bring back the Ten Commandments to the society.” Continue >>
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This is in response to a comment posted earlier which asserted that the United States was and should be a "Christian country."
Time for a little history lesson: Thomas Jefferson (and Voltaire, and many of the other Enlightenment philosophers from whom this country drew its philosophical underpinnings) was a Deist (not a Christian). The national motto "In God We Trust" was added in 1956 by Eisenhower, and hence is not a founding principle of the country. Further, it does not endorse Christianity in specific, anyway - it is prima facie as Deistic as Jefferson was. Most of the original inhabitants of the United States (and the colonies that preceded it) came either because they opposed established Christian churches of various varieties in Europe or to make money.
It is your personal right to disagree with people who do not espouse your views, but keep in mind that the government does not exist to back up your dogma. Freedom of (and from) religion is explicitly protected by the Bill of Rights. From the Declaration of Independence (with regard to such "natural rights"), "to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men" - the purpose of the government is to protect people's rights, not to give any one faction power over everyone else. Leave the Hindus and scientists alone, and go to church if that's what you feel like doing. Society doesn't care if you don't agree with it, so live your life as you see fit and let others do the same without self-righteous meddling.
GoldenEagle - Thanks :)
charles - Not to worry, I've far from given up.
zenodaddy - You shouldn't expect atheists to actually know anything. "The fool hath said in his heart there is no God". They just seem to be people brimming over with hate, and need somewhere to spew it, how sad.
RBB:
Christ came to give life and that more abundantly. There those who would have you believe that ll is hopeless but it is not. We know the ending and we know who wins. Don't listen to the decieved, they do not deserve any answer but the fact that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that whoever believes should not perish but have eternal life, God did not send His Son to destroy the world but that thru him they might be saved.
RBB, don't give up, the enemy seeks but to steal, kill and destroy but
HampsteadPete,
Which book did you get this information out of? I think you should go back and re-study your history. The Ten Commandments were before the Babylonian captivity. When it came to the Egyptians, they had no such thing in their culture, let alone the Babylonians.
Ignorance is definitely not blissful.
Oh boo, hoo, hoo! First of all, which commandments are they talking about, the first set or the second, longer set? The first four "commandments" are merely variations on the theme "worship me! Worship me!" The rest of them contain absolutely nothing that wasn't in the culture prior to the first Hebrew writings, and most of it was stolen directly from the Babylonians who held the Hebrews captive at the time, along with their creation and flood myths.
Why Christians make such a big deal out of this bronze-age morality is the real mystery, as the god depicted in the old testament is probably the most horrible creature in all of fiction.
I apologize for getting off topic.Anyway, well said RBB.You are right on about the state of things in our country, and in light of that fact, this story about the Ten Commandments is no surprise.
Good job, RBB.The hypocrisy in all of this is sobering.Religion is being taught in our schools.It just happens to be the religion of Humanism.Every religion is tolerated in the name of tolerance and pluralism, except for Christianity.It reminds me of the true story of a man who went to a major store looking for a Christmas tree and Christmas lights.He was shown to an aisle that had Holiday trees and Holiday lights.The man said no thanks, I'm looking for a Christmas tree and Christmas lights.It sounds silly, but the man was trying to make a point.He wasn't going to buy from a store that didn't have the backbone to stand up and be politically incorrect.Something to think about.
I would be very surprised if the outcome of this survey was any different. While this country was founded by Christians, and for some time was a Christian country, it has ceased to be one. We are a country where the ACLU and atheists have all but purged not only the Ten Commandments but even the mere mention of faith in Christ from schools, work places, the courts and are working on abolishing the right to even voice that what's contained in the Bible is right.
I live in a town that can have no manger scene, no Christmas and Easter parties in the schools, schools where the teachers teach my children and grandchildren lies about Creation, and that it's fine for them to have sex before marriage and to kill their unborn children if they screw up and get pregnant, and that it's just fine if two men or two women have sex, and what God teaches doesn't matter. That isn't a Christian country.
I live in a town, where this month (for the next several weekends) they will be having a festival to the Hindu "goddess" Ambika. They will be taking over a whole street, and dancing till midnight, a festival which I'm helping to pay for through my taxes, while no celebration of Christmas can be held, because that would be be a violation of the separation of Church and State. No that isn't a Christian country.