Sunday, August 19, 2007 - Page updated at 02:06 AM
E-mail article
Print view Share:
Digg
Newsvine
Danny Westneat
Here comes the judge
Seattle Times staff columnist
![]() |
How would you rate Seattle, on a scale of one to 10?
Don't answer yet. This is no earthly grading scale. It was chiseled in stone by the finger of God. God's exam for us is the Ten Commandments. And Seattle is failing, argues a new book by a Mercer Island writer, David Klinghoffer.
It's true the Seattle area is one of the least-churched in America. We're less tied to churches and have the highest rate — 25 percent — who answer "none" to the question, "What is your religious tradition?"
Seattle's a yoga, not a church, town, writes Klinghoffer in "Shattered Tablets: Why We Ignore the Ten Commandments at Our Peril."
"Put it all together and you arrive at the conclusion that this green, dank and chilly corner of the country represents the steadily advancing prow of a resurgent pagan moral perspective in American culture."
Klinghoffer gazes into the city's soul and judges it sick. He never gives us a final score. But it's clear he finds Seattle morally degraded. The book suggests we fail to follow any of the Ten Commandments.
Which I think means we got a zero. On a scale of one to 10.
I'd say Klinghoffer's got it backward. What's striking about Seattle is how much we follow the rules, including God's commandments, even though we aren't animated by much actual belief in God.
Let's assume that Seattle fails the first four commandments (the ones about honoring God and not worshipping any other). I don't think it's true — plenty of folks of faith never go to church — but let's debate that another time.
But the last six? The ones designed to serve as guides for decent human behavior?
As cities go, we don't steal (No. 8) or murder (No. 6) much. We're one of the safest big cities in the U.S. Klinghoffer gets around this by lumping gambling into the "do not steal" chapter, and abortion and "do not resuscitate" orders into the murder chapter.
Thou shalt not bear false witness (No. 9)? He can't come up with much about Seattle lying. So he includes gossiping. Yet if ever there was a big-city culture more unmoved to dishing, more stolid in its "mind-your-business-I'll-mind-mine" attitude, I don't know it.
![]()
Adultery (No. 7)? This chapter begins with him visiting the Enumclaw farm where a man died having sex with a horse. Now that was sick.
It goes on to quote me, from a column I wrote about how odd I found it when Boeing fired its CEO, Harry Stonecipher, for having an affair. I said a company should be wary of meddling in the personal, legal acts of its employees. Klinghoffer wonders: Where's my outrage? I chose to leave that to Stonecipher's wife.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house (No. 10)? Guilty on that one, Seattle!
We're a "wayward city," Klinghoffer says, that has lost the moral will to solve its problems, such as crime at Third and Pine downtown.
"The point is, where you find vapid ideas about God, you will also find vapid ideas about morality," he says.
Here's a quiz. Do you think that sentence best describes a) this city, b) this column or c) his book?
Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

Finding your work/life balance
Author Michelle Goodman serves up fresh tips & trends in the NWjobs.com Nine to Thrive blog.
Danny Westneat: They call this tax restraint?
Danny Westneat: Nobody likes a snitch ... do they?
Danny Westneat: A twist in high-flying mystery
Danny Westneat: Passionate response to "out of sorts"
Danny Westneat: We don't need the bag police
- Grand Coulee Dam's immensity dominates Columbia River Basin | Only in Washington
- Some scented household products contain chemicals classified as toxic, UW study finds
- Private-school principal charged with rape of girl, 14
- Peak tolls on 520 bridge could be as high as $6.85
- Privacy vs. border security: Critics say laptop searches cross the line
- Seattle trucking-firm owner convicted in Rolls-Royce theft
- Toll on new 520 bridge could be $6.85 round trip, state study says
- Search suspended for young girl distress caller
- California QB Keith Price pledges to Huskies for 2009
- Alaska Air plans job cuts, fare hikes
- Some scented household products contain chemicals classified as toxic, UW study finds
- Grand Coulee Dam's immensity dominates Columbia River Basin | Only in Washington
- Making the most of your produce
- Privacy vs. border security: Critics say laptop searches cross the line
- Alaska Air plans job cuts, fare hikes
- Gates Foundation breaks ground
- Council panel OKs bag fees
- Southcenter mall expands, regroups with new retailers
- Look to legumes for protein that's affordable and delicious
- Toll on new 520 bridge could be $6.85 round trip, state study says
