The Ten-plus Commandments

I have received two related and rather unusual emails in recent days. They are about a project to establish what is described as an alternative set of commandments. I think these emails have come to me because I preached on the biblical Ten Commandments recently and what we post on the internet knows no bounds. Their commandments will essentially be the atheist commandments and the project involves  crowd-sourced prizes of ten thousand dollars for winning submissions. Is Moses spinning in his grave on Nebo's lonely mountain? 

This also promotes a book called ATHEIST MIND, HUMANIST HEART: Rewriting the Ten Commandments for the Twenty-first Century

Here is a description of the prize:

The Rethink Prize, a re-imagining of the Ten Commandments for our modern age, with prizes of $10,000 for the winning commandments (as chosen by a panel of distinguished judges). It will be announced on October 30, but I’m happy to share more information about this ahead of time if it’s of interest.

 

I wasn't sure whether to be pleased that these authors are using the commandments of the Judeo-Christian tradition as their foundation or annoyed. Honestly, can't they come up with some new material if this is the brave new post-religious world?  I am curious to know what they come up with. I wonder if they realize that the late atheist celebre, Christopher Hitchens, already engaged in this exercise for Vanity Fair magazine back in 2010. Here are his suggestions:

 

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 f****g  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.

 

What do you think about this project? Do you have your own alternative commandments? Are you content with the ones found in Exodus and Deuteronomy. Are you tempted to work at this, given the prize of ten grand?