Rev. talks 10 Commandments

Presenting the Ten Commandments to politicians and expecting them to abide by them may sound like a tough task to some, but for Rev. Robert Schenck, it's just an average day's work. Schenck, who spoke to a small group at the Newman Center last night, is the president of the National Ministry Cabinet, a group whose main focus is the Ten Commandments Project. The group's mission is to present plaques of the Commandments to politicians and other government officials, actively "challenging them to display and obey them, the latter being the more difficult." Schenck described a few of his experiences in making these presentations, saying that, "almost always, we will get this response: 'Wow, you got me on a couple of those.'" "The silence indicates that these words have a job and are in fact doing it," Schenck remarked. "They make us aware of our own predisposition toward violating this moral code." One politician actually wept upon contemplating the Commandments in the office of the chaplain of the U.S. Senate. His guilt over an act of adultery, Schenck explained, overcame him as he was confronted by a plaque of the Judeo-Christian moral code. This is exactly the sort of response Schenck hopes to get from the distribution of the Ten Commandments. "There is no greater governor of human behavior than that which governs the heart and soul and conscience of an individual," he said. Schenck conceded that the Commandments are difficult rules to follow. "We cannot live up to this standard," he said. "We are doomed to fail it." Along with the importance of the Commandments, Schenck emphasized their universality. "The Commandments are one of the few places where Jews, Christians and even Moslems agree," he said. Schenck's ideas were well received by the group. Nursing junior Martha Valas expressed interest in "the impact of values of Christianity and Judaism on society" and thought "the way [the Commandments] pull everyone together is very profound." Wharton junior Anthony Bunker focused on the anecdotes Schenck told, saying that "it was interesting to hear about politicians and their reactions."

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