Should We Post The Beatitudes In Public Places?

Plaque of the 8 Beatitudes, St. Cajetan Church, Lindavista, Mexico
(Wikipedia)

I often hear people lamenting the fact that the Ten Commandments are no longer displayed in our public schools, court houses and other public spaces. 

To be sure, I'm all for having such timeless truths get as much attention as possible, yet I wonder whether Christians shouldn't be just as eager, if not more so, to have Jesus's foundational "Eight Blessings" get that kind of visibility, the so-called Beatitudes (as found in Jesus's "Sermon on the Mount" in Matthew 5-7).

Both the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) and the Beatitudes (the Eight Blessings) are revered as a part of a divinely inspired message meant to be a fundamental part of the faith. Each was given from a mountain to an awed crowd impressed by the power and authority of what they were hearing. Each was an introduction to an expanded set of teachings defining a new era in God's rule on earth, the first through a new nation of recently freed Israelite slaves, the second to communities of Jesus followers all around the world committed to God's will being done "on earth as it is in heaven."

I think of Jesus's eight sayings as being sure signs of shalom, shalom being the Hebrew word that carries the sense of "nothing marred and nothing missing," a state of optimal fulfillment and wellbeing:

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountainside, and after he sat down and the disciples had gathered around, Jesus began to teach them:

Blessed are those who are poor in spirit: the kin-dom of heaven is theirs.

Blessed are those who are mourning: they will be consoled.

Blessed are those who are gentle: they will inherit the land.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice: they will have their fill.

Blessed are those who show mercy: they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are those whose hearts are clean: they will see God.

Blessed are those who work for peace: they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of their struggle for justice: the kin-dom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and utter every kind of slander against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; they persecuted the prophets before you in the very same way.

These words are spoken in the context of Jesus having just endured an intense time of testing in the wilderness in which Satan had promised him all of the influence he had over the world's principalities and powers if only he would be willing to collaborate with him. In the Beatitudes Jesus shows who will really "inherit the earth," not be the rich and powerful but the poor and the marginalized. 

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the crowds listening to Jesus's inaugural address were amazed at the authority with which he spoke.

We should be as well.

Your thoughts?

Here is the source of the version of the Beatitudes cited above.