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From: mark@utzoo.UUCP (mark bloore)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: thought experiment
Message-ID: <3153@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 14-Aug-83 12:26:52 EDT
Article-I.D.:    utzoo.3153
Posted: Sun Aug 14 12:26:52 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 14-Aug-83 12:26:52 EDT
References: <2120@tekmdp.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 23

a recent article asks that we consider what the world would be like if 
everyone obeyed the 10 commandments.

as i recall (having looked them up some years ago (in a KJV bible)), one of
the commandments proscribes working on a sunday.  what would the world
be like if firemen, pharmacists, meteorologists, doctors, power-, water-,
gas- and telephone-workers, lifeguards and newscasters (ie for emergency
announcements) did not work on sundays?
would it be considered work to keep your own weather-watch in tornado season?
if a fruit farmer received a frost warning on sunday, would he let his crop
be destroyed?  (on second thought, this is not a problem, without
meteorologists or newscasters).  it is work to milk a cow on weekdays; if
you don't milk them on sunday they will hurt a lot.  (that commandment also
applies to domestic animals; perhaps they wouldn't produce on sunday?)

i left the police out of my list because their duties in a crime-free world
would be rather different, but it occurs to me to wonder whether there are
crimes not covered by the ten commandments.  for example, may a woman
covert her neighbour's husband?  (and is it a crime anyway?)

				mARK bLOORE
				univ of toronto
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!mark