First part of 10 Commandments v 2.0 completed

The non-sectarian, Ecumenical Committee to Update the Commandments (ECUC) has completed the first part of its planned revamping of the ten commandments. The committee includes Jewish, Christian, and Muslim ethicists and theologians, along with two Buddhists, three Wiccans, and a Scientologist. The complete document, originally to be called “Ten Commandments Version 2.0” (10CV2) was to be released in 1990. The current plan is to release sections, each replacing one of the original commandments, with a schedule that now stretches through 2050.

The first section, an 800 page draft with over 10,000 new commandments, will replace the old Thou shalt not kill as soon as its public review is completed. The draft has been posted on the ECUC web site and will be sold in book form at the Committee’s e-store (http://estore.newtencommandments.org.) It will be available in paper or by electronic download. The committee accepts all major credit cards.

“Although the new commandments are behind schedule,” said Rabbi Meyer Shulman, chairman of the subcommittee that produced the Thou shalt not kill replacement, “we think people will find it worth the wait. These new commandments provide practical and flexible guidance that people can use in facing the myriad problems of modern life. Perhaps the old ‘Thou shalt not kill’ was sufficient for a bunch camel-herding Jews wandering in the desert, but it won’t work for the millions of modern people who travel across continents, live in complex tech-driven societies, and have to deal with sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll, and Internet porn. What do you do if an insane pedophile is about to molest your child? What do you do if you have a chance to stop Hitler from taking power? What do you do if you meet a Republican and no one is watching? The old commandment had the same simple answer, impractical in many of these cases. The new draft answers all of these questions and thousands more.”

The next section, replacing Thou shalt not commit adultery, is nearing completion and its draft will be posted within a year. The committee expects that the new commandments will be more than 1,000 pages long, and will be released with hundreds of full-color photographs and a DVD-video showing people exactly what not to do and how not to do it. It will be X-rated.