Ed Bradley: If you think a refresher course in the Ten Commandments will solve the problem of guns in school, let Andy tell you why it won't.
Andy Rooney: Everyone's trying to figure out what to do about the shooting of schoolchildren by other children. It seems to most of us that if they couldn't get hold of a gun, they couldn't shoot anyone. The answer in some communities has been to post the Ten Commandments in the schools. I have eight Bibles, and the Ten Commandments are different in each one of them.
(Footage of students walking past Ten Commandments stone outside school)
Rooney: (Voiceover) This is the controversial stone outside a school in Adams County, Ohio. The First Commandment here reads 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.'
That never sounded like anything God would say to me. It sort of suggests there are other gods, but he wants to be first among them. God wouldn't have said that. Moses reported the Ten Commandments, of course. Maybe he got it wrong. You know how reporters are.
(Footage of Ten Commandments stone)
Rooney: (Voiceover) Two, 'Thou shalt not worship any graven image.'
The word graven wouldn't mean much to a kid - or me either, for that matter.
(Footage of Ten Commandments stone)
Rooney: (Voiceover) Three, 'Thou shalt not take God's name in vain.' Good. I dislike hearing kids behaving like jerks by swearing.
(Footage of Ten Commandments stone)
Rooney: (Voiceover) Four, 'Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.'
I totally disagree with that. I don't see anything wrong with shopping on Sunday. Go right from church to the mall if you want.
(Footage of Ten Commandments stone)
Rooney: (Voiceover) Five, 'Honor thy father and thy mother.' That's fine.
Maybe respect would be a better word.
(Footage of Ten Commandments stone)
Rooney: (Voiceover) Six, 'Thou shalt not kill.'
Well, of course, but having it posted in school wouldn't have stopped anyone.
(Footage of Ten Commandments stone)
Rooney: (Voiceover) Seven, 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.'
It doesn't seem appropriate for kids who aren't married.
(Footage of Ten Commandments stone)
Rooney: (Voiceover) Eight, 'Thou shalt not steal.' Fine. Nine, 'Thou shalt not bear false witness.'
Too hard a phrase to understand. Ten. The Tenth Commandment, in one of my Bibles, reads, 'Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thy neighbor's wife, his manservant, his ox, his ass or anything that is thy neighbor's.'
(Footage of students walking past stone)
Rooney: (Voiceover) Outside the school, they cut that down to just plain 'Thou shalt not covet.'
Covet's a hard word. It means to want something, and it's impossible for a person to control what he wants. He can control himself from trying to get it. It's the wrong word, though.
(Stone shown listing The Seven Commandments)
Rooney: (Voiceover) Maybe they should put up a stone with the 'Seven Commandments' and write them in plain English. They could read, 'Don't pray to a statue. Don't swear. Respect your parents. Don't shoot anyone. Don't fool around. Don't steal. Don't lie.'
And at the bottom there should be one more line: 'If you do these things, you're going to get thrown out of here on your ox.'