Will accepting there us a deity for no reason make you any happier?
Well, it did, for a lot of people. The 10 commandments (give or take a few) are pretty basic to a functioning society. Having an all-powerful, all-knowing police force that can hunt you even after you died helps keeping crime levels down as well.
Commandments, directly from the bible verses in Exodus:
20 And God spoke all these words, saying:
2 “I am the Lord thy God, who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.
4 “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me,
6 and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
7 “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work;
10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
12 “Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
13 “Thou shalt not kill.
14 “Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 “Thou shalt not steal.
16 “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
17 “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”
Let's break these down on how they relate to a healthy functioning society.
1. Thou Shalt have no other gods before me.Well, that eliminates any freedom of religion. Looks like the writers of the constitution where a little iffy on this commandment too.
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. And that eliminates all artwork of any kind. Looks like this one would be a real issue for Free Speech laws in a society.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.More free speech problems, still nothing that would really form or lead a society together in a meaningful way.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.The punishment for this one is covered elsewhere in the bible. DEATH. I'm certain killing people for working on Sunday is a good way to have a healthy society form.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.Here we go! At number 5 and finally we find something that might be worthwhile. Of course, I'm not sure ~every~ father and mother should be unilaterally be honored. There are some real abusive conniving people out there who are absolute poison for their children.
God really should have maybe made this one more than a sentence long, it's a great though, but with no real substance.
6. Thou shalt not kill.Here we go! This is certainly good for society!
I mean, god himself doesn't follow it, what with the world wide floods, plagues, sending angels to kill people in their sleep, or ordering people to kill. Still, a good thought!
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.Okay, this ones moving away from the society thing again. I mean, you certainly should break a marriage contract with someone, that's bad. But really, this is going into the top 10 commandments from god? How about no pedophilia? Or no rape at all for that matter?
8. Thou shalt not steal.
I'm down with this, stealing is bad, disrupts any health society. Good commandment, I've got no issues with this one.
9.Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.Lying is pretty bad.
10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.Don't want other peoples things. I don't see the issue with wanting someones stuff so long as you don't steal it. More over, this law seems more like a crime of thought, than a crime of deed. Damning people for their thoughts seems pretty darn immoral.
So, out of all of them, the only ones that seem to directly relate to society are "Don't Kill, Don't Steal, Don't Lie". Gee, thank god 10 commandments where sent down to tell us that. I'm sure people would never figure out thatkilling, stealing, and lying are bad without those inspired tablets.