Ten Incentives Widen Knowledge of Commandments

NASHVILLE —  George Kelley believes the nation has lost its moral conscience and he plans to do something about it -- one child and $10 at a time.

The 76-year-old retired flower shop owner runs a ministry out of his home that pays children $10 each to memorize and recite the Ten Commandments.

With the help of donations, Kelley said, nearly 7,000 children nationwide have been able to take advantage of the offer over the last five years. He hopes to eventually persuade 10 million children to participate.

“When I say 10 million, you say that’s crazy,” Kelley said, chuckling. “Well, if you have a small dream, nobody pays any attention to it.”

Kelley’s project was born out of disgust in 1997 after a part-time cook killed seven workers at three Tennessee restaurants in a string of killings that terrorized the Nashville area. Kelley saw the crimes as one of many signs that young people did not understand right from wrong.

With help from friends, Kelley and his wife, Marion, started the Ten Commandments Project. The Kelleys, both Presbyterians, felt children who memorized the Ten Commandments might think about them when tempted to lie or steal or get involved in other wrongdoing.

At first, the Kelleys were concerned about how they would pay for the effort, but supporters started sending donations -- from $15 to $10,000 -- and a wealthy friend promised to help.

“It turned out, when our bank account got a little low, somebody would send some money in,” George Kelley said.

To qualify for the $10, children must be 16 or younger, live in the United States and recite the commandments to a pastor, rabbi, priest, teacher or other authorized adult witness. The witness must sign an affidavit, which can be downloaded from the ministry’s Web site tencommandmentsproject.org, pledging that they heard the child’s recitation.

“An authorized witness is not a relative,” Kelley said. “They would be inclined to fudge a little.”

Marion Kelley said she and her husband have not been concerned about fraud, partly because they write checks to individuals instead of to groups of several children at a time. Fabricating affidavits “would be a lot of trouble for just $10,” she said.

Also, adult leaders of youth groups whose members want to participate often call the Kelleys first for permission to act as authorized witnesses, providing more assurance that the affidavits are real, Marion Kelley said.

Brian Runge, a Lutheran pastor in Houston, discovered the project while surfing the Web. He took the idea to St. Mark Lutheran School in Houston, where more than 100 students participated and earned their money during the fall.

“The Ten Commandments are the basis of moral law for human beings, regardless of what your perspective is,” Runge said. “The more kids that know them, the more they’ll know how to live.”

The Kelleys concede that some children will participate simply for the excitement have faith that the young people will remember the lesson well after the money is gone.

“We hope someday that it won’t be the $10 that’s important, but that they’ll have God’s word in their heart,” Marion Kelley said.