The Ten Commandments, those pillars of Judeo-Christian faith, are mired again in a battle between church and state.
Though a federal court ordered Alabama's chief justice to remove a monument of the commandments from the state judicial building, the plaque with those same directives remains posted on the outside wall of the Allegheny County Courthouse.
Most of 20 random Pittsburghers surveyed by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review had no problem with the solid brass plaque remaining at its post, which faces Fifth Avenue. It might come in handy, after all. Only two of those surveyed could name all 10 commandments -- and all 20 had learned them sometime during their lives.
Wendi Susko, 22, of Finleyville, Washington County, couldn't name any. Her friend mentioned something about "freedom of speech," but corrected herself, and left it at that.
Jeff Lawrence, 48, of Pleasant Hills, got an A-plus for remembering all 10 without pause. He attributed it to 12 years of Catholic school. All that education, however, didn't help Ron Schibner, 30, of Brookline.
"My grandmother had a plaque in her house. I can see it," he said. After 15 seconds, he gave up. "That's a shame I can't name more than two," Schibner said, hanging his head.
Gender, age, skin color -- none of that mattered. Memory loss crossed all lines, though one elderly woman blamed her age for her forgetting every commandment.
A young woman swore out loud when she couldn't remember any more.
Susko returned after about eight minutes to name four commandments. If she had looked at the plaque on the wall behind her, she'd have gotten them all.
Pink-haired Robb Lersch, 18, of the North Side, took the quiz shortly after his band Last Chance played in the courtyard of the courthouse.
"The first three are about God ... Shut up!" he said, as his friends tried to drop hints. He named a few at first.
"Four. I got four," he said finally.
Four commandments was just ahead of the curve. Most people could get the ones with "lie," "steal" and "murder" in them, but that was it.
A woman who proudly called herself "an avid Bible reader" was sure she knew them all. But she wasn't expecting to be quizzed. She got by with a 70 percent.
When she was reminded of the fourth commandment -- about keeping the Sabbath a holy day -- she tried to argue that it was negated around the time Jesus was born.
Zora Rush, 22, of Bellevue, didn't agree with posting the commandments on the courthouse, saying such an action undermines religious tolerance. Then she named six of the commandments, and gave up.
"My grandmother would be so disappointed," Rush said.
Provided her grandmother could remember them, of course.
Additional Information:
The Ten Commandments
1. I, the Lord, am your God. You shall not have other gods before Me.2. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
4. Honor your father and mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Source: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
