I was surprised that there weren’t more people clamoring to see the Ten Commandments exibit that ran at the ROM from October 10 to 18, displaying one of the oldest copies of the famous edicts from the Jewish Torah and Christian Old Testament, handwritten on a leather scroll dating from sometime in the 30 years before the Common Era. The show was part of the larger and more popular Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. I spent all summer telling my friends, family, and even tourists how honoured we Torontonians were to host such an amazing artifact, and what a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity it was to come face to face with the “words that changed the world.”
In retrospect, my naivete was almost charming. As it turns out, a lot more people were awestruck by the ROM’s dinosaurs and totem poles (which are pretty impressive, I’m not gonna lie) than the scrolls. Their indifference led me to wonder if, in our modern society, the Ten Commandments still matter.
The texts seem to appeal to academia, and to the Judeo-Christian portion of the population. But if someone doesn’t have deep interest in history, or a religious tie to the texts, are they any more captivating then the Gem and Mineral Collection or the Vanity Fair Portraits?
As another student at the exhibit put it, “The only [commandment] people might think is obvious is not to murder. Steal too, but then again, people are pretty loose about it, as well as adultery [since there’s] no punishment for it. The rest just seem to be about God pimping himself out, and if you’re not a Christian, you obviously don’t give a shit.” A little harsh, maybe, but that seemed to be the general consensus.
The decline in the status of the Ten Commandments can be attributed to the rise in other moral codes. Even within the West, ideas about karma, yin and yang, balance, and harmony have become mainstream. Our modern morality is not derived from the Ten Commandments alone.
There are various different conceptions of morality and ethics that have developed independent of the Judeo-Christian precepts. The teachings of Confucius, for example, date from about 550 to 480 BCE. Confucius was arguably as influential to Chinese thought as Socrates was to Western thought. And this is just one of many examples of other moral traditions, including the eastern religions, the hundreds if not thousands of tribal codes, and, lest we forget, secular morality. Each conception is inextricable from the values, culture, and tradition of the peoples that developed them. These conceptions do not necessarily contradict each other at all, but rather compliment and build upon each other.
Furthermore, in an increasingly secular society, it’s patronizing to suggest that one cannot be moral without a religious framework as a guide. Morality is a human phenomenon; it stems from the altruism that accompanies communal social structures. People believe that what is good for the group is good for the individual, and when a member of the group is threatened, they feel similarly at risk. Religious texts of any kind are not needed to recognize the humanity of another being. To suggest that there can only be one moral code, especially when we live in one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world, is absurd.
As the world shrinks, and we are introduced to different prisms by which to judge right and wrong, it becomes more important to appreciate rather than gloss over the stupendous plurality of moralities. Are the Ten Commandments important? Of course they are. They are a testament to a people, their way of life, and their way of thinking. But they’re not the only texts out there.
Perhaps the ROM will consider holding an exhibit on the the Upanishads—ancient Hindu scriptures that have heavily influeced Hindu philosophy. If it did, I’d still be waxing poetic about how honoured we are to host such an amazing artifact, and what a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this is to come face to face with more “words that changed the world!”
