Should our laws be based on the 10 Commandments?

Should our laws be based on the Ten Commandments? Well, yes and no. The best approach to this question is to take the commandments one by one, and evaluate the constitutionality of each one as if it were a proposed law:

1)YHWH, the Lord thy God. You must have no other gods before me.
First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Score: 0 out of 1.

2)You must not make or worship idols.
Score: 0 out of 2, same reason.

3)You must not swear falsely by God's name.
Again, our laws cannot establish a religion or favor one religion over another. BUT, perjury is a form of fraud that can do great damage to another person's rights, and that definitely must be criminalized and enforced (Laws do no good if not properly enforced). Score: 0.5 out of 3.

4)Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy.
Again, government cannot impose religious beliefs or favor one religion over another. Government can, however, require that an employee's work week not exceed six days, unless the work it part-time or short-term. While that should be determined by the states, government may have an interest in requiring employers to allow periodic rest time for their workers. For example, traffic safety and minimizing the societal costs of broken families and "latchkey children." Score: 1 out of 4.

5)Honor your mother and father.
The restoration of the authority of parents to raise their children as they see fit, while of course continuing to criminalize child abuse, is one of the most important things government needs to do to stop meddling in the affairs of private citizens. Obviously that means children are under the authority of their parents. Score: 2 out of 5.

6)You must not murder.
That one is obvious. The most basic responsibility of government is to protect citizens from the unjust use of force. Score: 3 out of 6.

7)You must not commit adultery.
Relationships between consenting adults are none of the government'sbusiness. If the cheated spouse feels aggrieved by the adultery, heor she has the recourse of divorce. Score: 3 out of 7.

8)You must not steal.
It is the responsibility of government to outlaw theft and fraud, and of the courts to require the thief make restitution to his or her victim. Score: 4 out of 8.

9)You must not give false testimony against another person.
To falsely accuse another person of a crime, give false and damaging testimony against another person in court, or to slander another person in such a way as to damage that person's liberty or pursuit of happiness (ability to secure or maintain employment, in modern parlance), is most certainly a violation of that person's rights and a clear misuse of the system that needlessly increases the costs borne by the taxpayers. The government should have a policy of zero tolerance for knowingly committing any of the above torts. Score: 5 out of 9.

10)You must not lust after another person's spouse or possessions.
The government cannot prosecute against a thought or an intention, only against an act or an actual attempt to commit an act. Score: 5 out of 10.

So, the claim made by fundamentalists that our laws should be based on the 10 commandments is --

A HALF TRUTH!!!!!