Thomas Jefferson was emphatic: religious freedom is important. Jefferson believed that such liberty came from God, as he eloquently stated, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
Jefferson held firmly to the belief that the state should not sanction an official, established religion. But in his state, Virginia, the Anglican church was both an established and an official religion to which, by law, Virginians paid taxes. It was against the law for a citizen of Virginia whose motto was and is, "Sic Semper Tyrannis,” meaning “Thus Always to Tyrants,” to disseminate beliefs the Anglican church deemed unorthodox.
You might think that the Declaration of Independence took care of that matter and Virginia's tyrannical religious dictates were gone with Jerrson's pen. But such wasn't the case. The taxes and the laws remained on the books for a while.
The thinking behind the First Amendment to the Constitution was, is, and forever should be, "No one can make you profess or support ideas or teachings you don't believe." That amendment, standing number 1in the Constitution, says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech . . ."
You can think whatever thoughts you like and say whatever you believe to be true. To put it another way, contrary to old Virginia's laws, you have a right to be wrong, a right to think wrong thoughts and a right to express those thoughts, but you do not have the right to force people to think the way you think and to force people to express beliefs that you express.
In George Orwell's 1984, he foresaw a tyrannical government of Big Brother that made its citizens think only the approved thoughts, called, "Doublethink," (the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them as true.) The citizens could say only the approved thoughts with only the approved words called "Newspeak." To think differently was a thought crime.
John Milton would have agreed with the First Amendment. He wrote, "Truth . . . is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition disarmed of the natural weapons, free argument and debate; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contradict them."
To the thoughts of Jefferson and Milton, we would say with Sherlock Holmes in the movies, "Of course. That's elementary, my dear Watson." But we live in a day in which it would be difficult to find a college president, administrator, or professor who has the courage to express what Jefferson, Milton, and almost all the rest of us believe. The reason they don't have such courage is that they will be lynched via technology, harassed, howled down, assaulted, or even fired.
And what does all this have to do with Commandment Ten of the Mosaic Law? That commandment says, "Thou shall not covet." What's coveting? It's desiring what's not for sale or what you cannot legitimately have, such as "your neighbor's wife."You might want a Samsung 65 inch 4KHD TV, but that's not coveting. It becomes coveting when you want your neighbor's and it's not for sale.
When you read the Ten Commandments, you'll notice that they all carry a penalty but one. Break nine commands; pay the price. One command carries no penalty: the last one, "Thou shalt not covet." And why is it the only one that carries no penalty? Because it's a thought crime. Thought crimes aren't punishable. You have a right to be wrong. But you can't be punished for your thoughts.
Except in our day when the howling mob comes. The barbarians are not at the gates; they have crashed through the gates at full howl demanding that you think as they think and say what they say or face the consequences. You will be punished for thought crimes. The day grows darker.
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