What is the connection between the Ten Commandments and the right to liberty?

1. You shall have no other god.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.
3. Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.
4. Honor your father and mother that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on earth.
5. You shall not murder.
6. You shall not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, workers, animals, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

I see how life and property come from these 10 commands, but how does liberty fit in?

Discipulo legis, quis cogitat?

Think of liberty in the context of the 5th and 14th amendments due process clause. They prohibit Federal and state governments from depriving citizens of their liberty. In this sense, the individual is protected from government. The individual is of a higher order of importance than the state. In communist governments, the state is of greater importance than the individual.

If you read the commandments as a whole, you will notice that there is no mention of the state. The state is subordinate to this law. The commandments also imply a natural law, one which exists outside of the state and which binds all individuals regardless of those laws which may be passed by a legislature. While each individual enjoys personal liberty, it is only as far as it does not infringe on the liberty of others. This is possible if individuals govern themselves. The 10 commandments are a system of self-governance which makes personal liberty possible if everyone personally abides by them. By holding the individual accountable to others, but higher than the state, liberty is preserved.

Edward

From the 9th and 10th, men have the liberty to consider women to be property no more important than a house or animals.

Ruirik

I really don't know if it does have a connection, at least not directy. The Ten Commandments is more telling you what you cannot do.
It has more to do with obeying a deity than liberty.

In some sense though it helps with liberty in that if you obey some of the more secular aspects (5,6,7,8,9,10) of the commandments, you are not depriving someone else of their property and loves in life. You are respecting the what they have, and some of the aspects of any individuals liberty. Conversely, they should be respecting the liberties you have.

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