We had two invitations, but we didn't go. One man even gave us a brochure and described it in detail. "The numbers are 5 feet tall!" he beamed. And the following day, our seatmates on the train couldn't contain their awe, and insisted that we visit the Fields of the Woods on our way back to our motel. "You'll be going right by it. Don't miss it." But we decided to skip the world's largest Ten Commandments as well as other superlative Christian symbols that were prominently displayed on a mountainside that had been cleared of all trees. And, here just one week later, the Old Testament lectionary lesson, Exodus 20:1-20, is the Ten Commandments.

By one count, there are more than 4,000 public displays of the Ten Commandments, and yet less than 10% of Americans can name more than four of the commandments. So much for memorization and prominent monuments, made of rocks set on a mountain of rock.

This photo is of a rock that when illuminated glows like a hot coal. This artifact may be a Cahokian Sun Effigy, 1000 AD.