Matthew McConaughey Questions Why The 10 Commandments Aren’t Displayed In Every Classroom

Matthew McConaughey thinks the world could be a better place simply by tacking the 10 Commandments up on the wall.

The actor, author, business owner, minister (of culture) and philanthropist took some time recently to sit down with Joe Rogan on The Joe Rogan Experience. Per usual with Rogan’s podcasts, the conversations covered a lot of bases, and stretched on for just under three hours. In other words, McConaughey was there to promote his new book and his new movie… and they never really talked all that much about either.

Instead, Rogan and McConaughey discussed the state of the world, how social media and the internet has had tremendous negative impacts on society, and explored some possible alleviations for those issues.

McConaughey couldn’t help but wonder if the 10 Commandments – ethical directives given to Moses by God in the Bible – could be of more use in the modern day:

 “So with all that exterior stimulus, and here we are with adult minds talking about, ‘Man, you gotta watch this.’ Imagine a child. Now I’m going, ‘Is there something… does anyone have a better suggestion than the 10 Commandments?’ To get a child’s mind to go, ’10 things, if I look at that and just aim that direction, I feel like I can’t go wrong. Or I can go closer to right.’

I’m seeing youth and adults spun out, man. I don’t understand the general expectation between us. (People are saying), ‘What do you mean? I can pick your pocket and steal from you and if I got away with it, f**k you. I’m not embarrassed. I don’t feel guilty. What do you mean do it the right way? Integrity? Character? What are you talking about?'”

Rogan provided some pushback to the 55-year-old suggesting that the 10 Commandments should be posted up in public schools. That didn’t stop McConaughey from saying that the list of directives are a foundation, and that in a storm, people could go to it. Matthew even conceded that you could “forget the author,” meaning that it doesn’t have to be a religious thing… which is easier said than done.

Despite the difficulty of separating the religion from the list, McConaughey stood strong in his opinion that it could help:

“Does it have to exclude (other religions) though? Can it say, ‘This is a Christian society, but we have 10 minutes where everyone can take time to bow to whatever your religion is? If you care to or not, there’s no exclusion about what can be a spiritual time of worship. But in our classroom, in America, we’re gonna have the 10 Commandments.’ My question then goes to this: Is there anything on the 10 Commandments that you or anyone disagrees with? Or is your problem that it can be considered an oppressive author?

Pull the author off for a minute. My hang up is that most people go to the problem with it because of the author: God. So we go to the author instead of the content. When you look at the 10 Commandments, is there anything that anyone out there would say, ‘I disagree with that one.'”

Matthew McConaughey makes a good point. Obviously there’s some religious components built into the 10 Commandments, but there’s also some very simplified, undeniable guiding points that would be hard to argue against. Here’s the list right below in case you need to touch up on it:

1. You shall have no other gods before me.

2. You shall not make idols.

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

5. Honor your father and your mother.

6. You shall not murder.

7. You shall not commit adultery.

8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

1o. You shall not covet.

Rogan played devil’s advocate and said portions of the 10 Commandments that are believer-specific could cause issues with non-believers, and those who practice different religions. So McConaughey recommended that all religions and beliefs come together to create a “best 10” if the 10 Commandments were seen as problematic. Again… easier said than done, since most religions don’t always have an openness to work with other religions.

But at the very basis of things, Matthew McConaughey thinks displaying the 10 Commandments up for all to see could be an incredibly helpful (and relatively easy) way to help us all get on the right track:

“Right now there’s not an agreed upon expectation of how to treat each other. You are rewarded for (treating people badly). If you do follow the rules, (you’re a sucker). That can’t have a long play for us.”

Amen to that.

You can hear more from Matthew McConaughey in the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience:

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