Part of the foundation of Western civilization is the Ten Commandments. The better we have obeyed the Ten Commandments, the more love, peace, justice, freedom, and happiness we have seen in our society. Right now in our culture the Ten Commandments are being broken with abandon. False gods and graven images (Ex 20:3-4) are being flashed across our TV screens. We put much time, money, and attention into these gods of self, pleasure, power, work, lifestyle, sex (see Eph 5:5), and so on. We adore and worship these gods.

We also flaunt breaking the second commandment. If we go to the average movie, we will probably hear God's name repeatedly taken in vain. Who keeps holy the Lord's Day anymore? We work and shop on Sundays much more than ever before in Western civilization. Honoring our fathers and mothers has reached an all-time low, as our society encourages children to rebel against their parents. Furthermore, divorce makes it much more difficult for children to honor their parents. Casual sex denies parenthood.

Concerning the fifth commandment, abortion has made us the top killers of all time. Partly because of artificial birth control, we may also be the top adulterers of all time. With our technological and communication expertise, we have developed new ways of stealing, lying, and coveting. No society has broken the Ten Commandments as we have. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rm 6:23).

Rescript:  †Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, January 5, 2009

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