Ten Commandments Commission Update: My Meeting with Religious Leaders in Canada
By Ron Wexler, President/CEO Ten Commandments Commission

Recently I met with religious leaders in Canada to discuss the goals and mission of the Ten Commandments Commission. There was never any doubt in my mind that the work of the commission in the U.S. was, from the very beginning, the need of the day.

Rabbi Joseph Kelman, founder of the Beit Emeth Synagogue in Toronto, one of Canada’s largest and most affluent Jewish congregations, spoke passionately about the importance of the Ten Commandments for the United States:

The Ten Commandments is the most important segment of the Bible. It is the Ten Commandments that gave, throughout the generations, inspiration and guidance to millions of Americans who did not necessarily see them as religious relics, but saw in them the base for the code of ethics and the means to advance American society. This helped the U.S. become the strongest and most powerful nation in the world. Removing the Ten Commandments from the public arena is destroying the fabric that made America so great.

An Anglican pastor added:

We need to celebrate the Ten Commandments in the way we live and display them in our daily walk. Removing the principles of the Ten Commandments from our way of life is in defiance to our core system of belief and possibly could bring to the demise of the western civilization. I am a Canadian Anglican pastor, but you can be rest assured that my sermon on May 7th will be based on the U.S. first annual Ten Commandments Day!

But today there exists a paradigm shift in our society that we are experiencing—a shift that must be stopped and reversed. James Madison, in one of his most powerful messages, said in 1778:

We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of the government, far from it. We have staked the future upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves and to sustain ourselves, according to the Ten Commandments of God.

Article 3 of The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 contains the following statement:

Religion, morality and knowledge is necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education, shall forever be encouraged.

Are these all just American concepts entrusted to us by the forefathers of our nation? On my visit to Canada and during my meetings with the Canadian clergy I found out quickly enough that we Americans are not the only ones holding on to these principles. Our brothers and sisters in the north, Jews and gentiles alike, also have strong feelings about these issues.

I was reminded by our Canadian friends (to my astonishment) that the founding fathers of our nation, although wanting to prohibit a state church, encouraged a Judeo-Christian faith-based nation. It was also pointed out by one of the ministers that the concept of ‘separation of church and state’ was never a part of the AMERICAN CONSTITUTION! These were knowledgeable Canadians I might add.

I quickly realized (that which I believed all along) that our movement, led by the Ten Commandments Commission, is not at all just an American issue. This is bigger than America or Canada combined. This is a global issue that is commencing to bring the Word of God back to the nations.

The work of the commission does not and should not stop with our work in the U.S. Our work here is just the beginning of bringing the source of light unto the nations.