Bob Ritter, JM Center Founder & President |
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Bob Ritter, JM Center Founder & President |
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Chapter 4 – The Tombstones
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TIMES UP!
. . . the 2005 Supreme Court decision holding that the display by the state of Texas of a Ten Commandments tombstone on its capitol grounds did not violate the Establishment Clause:
Its primary content is the text of the Ten Commandments. An eagle grasping the American flag, an eye inside of a pyramid, and two small tablets with what appears to be an ancient script are carved above the text of the Ten Commandments. Below the text are two Stars of David and the superimposed Greek letters Chi and Rho, which represent Christ. The bottom of the monument bears the inscription "PRESENTED TO THE PEOPLE AND YOUTH OF TEXAS BY THE FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES OF TEXAS 1961." [1]
That's a superficial description — one that we might expect of a court that has preordained a finding that the tombstone is not religious. Hope you saw a lot more like we did.
Inscribed in the center of the tombstone in large, easy to read letters, are the following words:
the Ten Commandments
I AM the LORD thy God
Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Thou shalt make to thyself any gaven
images.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord
thy god in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that the days
may be long upon the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt bear false witness against
thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife nor
his manservant nor his maidservant nor his
cattle nor anything that is thy neighbors.
If you counted like we did, there are actually eleven commandments. One was indented so that it would appear that there are only ten commandments. Why, because the Eagles, fearing a their program might violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, tried to combine various versions in order to make the tombstones nonsectarian. This endeavor would appears to us to be a literal impossibility since the Ten Commandments are the sacred text of the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The two tablets in the top section of the Austin monolith are very similar to the two tablets in the movie The Ten Commandments. (See below.)
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The primary difference is that the inscriptions in the movie tablets are left justified as one would expect from Hebrew writings which are writen from left to right. On the other hand, the inscriptions in the Austin tablets are centered. This is probably the result of incomplete inscription specifications. While not particularly significant from an overall perspective, it could be as a slight by Jews.
What is very significant, though, is that the inscriptions were not translated for any of the the Eagle tombstone cases. How can a court make a fair decision if it doesn't know what it is looking at? The simple answer is that it cannot. This is a major judicial error in our opinion.
A description of the Jesse Tree on Eagles tombstones will be added shortly. In the mean time, check out these sources:
We must concede that there is one secular icon engraved on the tombstone -- namely the American flag. The Fraternal Order of Eaglis is a patriotic organization (among other purposes).
The eagle, however, is a mixed metaphor so to speak. The American eagle is our official bird and, of course, it is the symbol of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. At the same time, we should not overlook its biblical significance. [cite] For example, let us direct your attention to Appendix 7 - F.O.E. Comic Book "On Eagles Wings". (More detail to be added.)
The "Eye of Providence," also known as the "Right Eye of God" and the "All Seeing Eye," is also a religious iconery and should not be construed as a secular embelishment. For example, it is an important symbol in Freemasonry.
For more information on the Eye of Providence, please check out the following websites. (We plan to add a more complete discription in the future.)
The 23 four-leaf clovers on the left and right sides are not mere decoration. "The four leaf clover is a universally accepted symbol of good luck with its origin ages old. According to legend, Eve carried a four leaf clover from the Garden of Eden." [2]
Another interpretation: "The three leaves of the white clover have become associated with the Christian Trinity, or God the Father, His Son, and The Holy Spirit. The extra leaf of the four leaf clover is said by some to stand for God's grace. A less dogmatic interpretation is that one leaf stands for faith, another for hope, the third for love and the last for luck." [3]
The quantity of 23 also has religious significance. In Freemasonery, the member of 23rd Degree holds the position of Chief of the Tabernacle.[4]
Below are the words of the Ten Commandments on the Fraternal Order of Eagles tombstone in Austin, Texas.
There are twelve commandments, to our way of thinking. However, if one exclues "I AM the LORD thy God" and consider it a preamble and consider "Thou shalt make to thyself any gaven images" as part of the commandment preceding it, then there are ten.
The real issue is not how many commandments there are, but rather -- taken as a whole -- they are set of religious codes. What they are not is a set of universal codes of behavior, that is, rules of behavior that we can all agree to live by.
Accordingly, this runs afoul of the holding in [cite] that held that one religion cannot be favored over another, nor religion over non religion. The plurality plus Justice Breyer seemed to overlook this major detail in Van Orden v. Perry.
This is one of the more damning aspects of the Eagles tombstones, perhaps second only to the text of the Ten Commandments itself. A number of court decision [to be cited later] recognize that the Greek letters Chi and Ro stand for Jesus Christ.
The Greek letter Chi looks like an "X", and the Greek letter Rho looks like a "P". The two letters are superimposed on one another in the center just above the scrolls at the bottom.
Chi Rho are the first two letters in the Greek spelling of the word Christ (Greek : "???st??"), and so have come to be used for a number of Christian-related usages. The Chi Rho is one of the earliest cruciform symbols used by Christians. It is formed by superimposing the first two letters of the word "Christ" in Greek, chi = ch and rho = r. Although not technically a cross, the Chi Rho invokes the crucifixion of Jesus as well as symbolizing his status as the Christ. The earliest evidence of the Chi Rho symbol is Constantine's use of it on the labarum, the imperial standard, in the early 4th century. Lactantius, a 4th century Christian apologist, reports that on the eve of the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312, Constantine had a vision of God in which he was commanded to mark his men's shields with the Chi Rho symbol. After Constantine's success at the Milvian bridge, the Chi Rho became the official imperial insignia. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence demonstrating that the Chi Rho was emblazoned on the helmet and shield of Constantine as well as those of all of his soldiers. Coins and medallions minted during Constantine's reign also bore the Chi Rho. By the year 350, the Chi Rho began to be used on Christian sarcophagi and frescoes. [A.E.M.] [5]
An explantion of the two Stars of David will be added shortly. The Stars of David in conjunction with the Chi Rho should be understood to mean "Hear Likes Jesus Christ." This is as religious a set of icons as one can imagine.
Below are some of the descriptions within the scrolls at the bottom of the Eagles tombstones. Most merely indicate that the Fraternal Order of Eagles "persented" a Ten Commandments tombstone to a specified city, county or state on a particular date or year. Fargo, North Dakota's is a bit confusing in that it is dedicated to an urban renewal project. One could get the impression that “better way of life” could be obtained by a spiritual “renewal.”
Austin’s description is listed first because its tombstone was the subject of Van Orden v. Perry. The state of Texas tells us that its secular purpose accepting the decalog was to recognize the Fratneral Order of Eagles for its teaching juvenile delinquents a universal guide of moral conduct, but quite frankly we fail to find such a purpose during our close examination of the tombstone.
The identification of Fratneral Order of Eagles monoliths as tombstones for Jesus Christ is is probably the most significant contribution to the understanding the Eagles Ten Commandments Program that is contained in the entire Ten Commandments Scancal essay. When understood in this light, the tombstones are necessarily inherently religious and any secular purpose that cities and states had in accepting them is necessarily deminimus.
PRESENTED TO THE
PEOPLE AND YOUTH OF TEXAS
BY THE
FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES
OF TEXAS
1961
TO THE
PEOPLE OF GREENE COUNTY
FROM THE
FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES
AERIE 1698
1957
PRESENTED TO
THE PEOPLE OF CUMBERLAND
BY AERIE NO. 245
FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES
1957
ERECTED FOR BOONE COUNTY
BY BOONE AERIE --- NO. 2062
FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES
AUG. 17, 1957
PRESENTED TO THE CITY OF FARGO
COMMENORATING THE FIRST URBAN
RENEWAL PROJECT IN NORTH DAKOTA.
DEDICATED TO THE STATE'S FUTURE
AND A BETTER WAY OF
LIFE FOR ALL ITS PEOPLE.
FARGO AERIE NO. 153
FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES
1958
If "Better Way Of Life" is being used to describe the Ten Commandments, that sounds to us like a direct endorsement of the Christian relgion. On the other hand, if it refers solely to their urban renewal project, we hope that it was successful.
PRESENTED TO
PROVO CITY AND UTAH COUNTY
BY
UTAH STATE AERIE
FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES
1963
PRESENTED TO THE CITY
OF PLEASANT GROVE AND
UTAH COUNTY, UTAH BY
UTAH STATE AERIE
FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES
1971
The above description in the scroll at the bottom of the tombstone does not say anything about the tombstone being donated in recognition of Pleasant Grove City's pioneering heritage. Obviously, that's just another phony secular purpose concocted by the city and its lawyers to circumvent the prohibitions of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
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ENDNOTES:
Avrahaum G. Segol is the primary source for the information in this chapter. Avrahaum is an American born, dual-citizen of the USA and Jewish State of Israel. He is an artist and researcher currently living in Israel. For news articles based on his research, see:
