Christopher Hitchens Rewrites the "Commandments."

And how many centuries overdue is it? This list culminates an excellent article in Vanity Fair about the so-called Ten Commandments (of which there are several versions--so much for sacrosanctity). I believe Hitchens has a book shortly forthcoming on the subject, so this can serve as a primer.

Though he does not, I'll put them in list form for easy reference. He begins--

It’s difficult to take oneself with sufficient seriousness to begin any sentence with the words “Thou shalt not.” But who cannot summon the confidence to say:

• Do not condemn people on the basis of their ethnicity or color.
• Do not ever use people as private property.
  
• Despise those who use violence or the threat of it in sexual relations.
• Hide your face and weep if you dare to harm a child.
• Do not condemn people for their inborn nature—why would God create so many homosexuals only in order to torture and destroy them?
• Be aware that you too are an animal and dependent on the web of nature, and think and act accordingly.
• Do not imagine that you can escape judgment if you rob people with a false prospectus rather than with a knife.
• Turn off that fucking cell phone—you have no idea how unimportant your call is to us.
• Denounce all jihadists and crusaders for what they are: psychopathic criminals with ugly delusions.
• Be willing to renounce any god or any religion if any holy commandments should contradict any of the above.

In short: Do not swallow your moral code in tablet form.

Amen!