There is much consternation and understandably so, in reaction to the Supreme Court's recent rulings regarding the public display of the Ten Commandments. While this is a devastating blow to Christians and potentially the freedom of religious expression; this action has only accomplished symbolically what has already been accomplished substantively.

The American judicial system long ago rejected the Seventh Commandment when Adultery Laws were abolished and the Supreme Court rejected the Sixth Commandment when it legalized abortion. Countless courts and communities rejected the Fourth Commandment when they repealed "blue laws" prohibiting businesses from operating on Sunday. The Fifth Commandment was rejected when courts began to elevate "children's rights" over and against parental rights. Society in general accepted rejection of the Third Commandment when we relaxed, or failed to enforce decency standards on the public airwaves and the Tenth Commandment when we began to produce and watch such programs as The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous and more recently, I Want to Be a Hilton.

American culture long ago rejected the Second Commandment when we openly promoted and embraced radical materialism, consumerism and careerism. Rejection of the Ninth Commandment (along with a few others) was firmly established when a sitting President openly lied to the American people and suffered no consequence. Lastly, the First Commandment was substantively rejected when we as a society gave supremacy to humanistic foundations for everything from origins to bioethics, to law and justice, to psychology and education as the solution for humanity's dilemma.

We have systematically denied, rejected or codified our rebellion against God's Laws and almost every step of the way too many Christians were either silent or compliant. And yet here we stand outraged and scratching our heads wondering "how could this happen?" Do not misunderstand me, I am deeply troubled by the Supreme Court's decision but there is more at stake here than cherished symbols. It is as Arthur Leff, the atheist and Yale Law professor wrote in 1979:

"If He [God] does not exist, there is no metaphoric equivalent. No person, no combination of people, no document however hallowed by time, no process, no premise, nothing as equivalent to an actual God in this central function as the unexaminable examiner of good and evil. The so-called death of God…seems to have effected the total elimination of any coherent, or convincing, ethical or legal system."

The removal of the Ten Commandments in those instances where they imply that they serve as the foundation of law and justice is merely the final and symbolic elimination of God in American public life. Subsequently "any coherent, or convincing, ethical or legal system" becomes impossible to establish and maintain.