Valerie Tarico On the Ten Commandments That Would Have Changed the World

There have been many attempts to improve on the Ten "Words" or Commandments in the Old Testament. Here is Tarico's list. Any of the secular versions I've seen are better than what we find in the Bible. I like her list very much. See, it isn't hard to be much smarter and more compassionate than an omniscient omnibenelovent god!

1. This above all shall ye take as my first command: Thou shalt treat living beings as they want to be treated. And the second commandment is like unto it:
2. In as much as be possible, thou shalt avoid afflicting pain or sorrow, which shall be unto thee my signs of ill and evil.
3. Thou shalt honor and protect all of creation, for I the LORD have created it that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
4. Thou shalt have sexual relations with neither human nor beast who chooseth not freely what pleasures thou mayest offer.
5. Thou shalt not beat the child, but by admonition and instruction with kindness shall teach both wisdom and skill.
6. Thou shalt do unto members of other religions and tribes as thou dost unto thine own.
7. I, the LORD your God, forbid thee to own other persons be they woman, man or child; neither shall ye subject any gender nor race one to another, but shall honor my image in all.
8. Thou shalt not destroy the lands of thine enemies, nor poison their well, nor salt their earth, neither shalt thou cut their shade tree nor burn their vineyard, nor wantonly slaughter the beast of their field.
9. Thou shalt wash thy hands before eating and shalt boil the drinking water that has been defiled by man or beast.
10. Thou shalt ask the questions that can show thee wrong, so that through the toil of many, from generation unto generation, ye may come to discover the great I AM.

This list of Ten Commandments would have changed the course of history. Think Crusades, or the Inquisition, or Salem, or the American Holocaust, or the slave trade, or Northern Ireland, or the Iraq War.

It would have changed history despite the fact that it is seriously flawed. Some points are redundant. Important concepts are missing. The thoughtful reader will immediately notice gaps or think of improvements. And that, precisely, is my point. People with their brains engaged and moral intuitions intact can do better.

LINK.