Some principles are common to all religions...
Submitted by Jules on September 11 2001 16:52:24
In reply to Let's try again. Since nobody will answer below. submitted by A.I. Watcher on September 10 2001 07:00:46
|
...and some are not. It's only fair that the law embodies what most people think or what most religions teach; so that it's against the law to murder, for example. "Do not murder" is part not only of Judaism and Christianity, but many other religions as well, including humanism. But I agree with you that the law shouldn't follow principles which are distinctive to any one religion. So for example there shouldn't be a law in any country against eating pork just because it's against the Jewish religion. On the question of homosexual practice, I suppose we're dealing with perhaps three major religions that reject it: Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Christianity and Islam. I don't know what other world religions say on it. The only case where you would reasonably expect the law to follow the principles of one religion is where a country is founded entirely on that religion. So at the moment, since the government of Afghanistan has declared the country to be completely Muslim, it rules using Islamic law. We might not like it, but at least it's logical. America however is not logical, at least not any more. You could say that America was originally founded on Christianity, which would at least explain the widespread laws against homosexual practice. But presuming that the country is no longer a totally 'Christian' country, then it's only right that the national and state governments should remove such laws. But then I guess they're scared of the Christian right, because it is still numerically strong. (What percentage are we talking about, by the way? Can anyone tell me?) In Europe we don't have that situation. The Christian right is tiny and powerless, if it exists at all, plus the fact that there has always been the state church to control people's morality, leaving the governments to concentrate on matters of state. Yes, there have been laws against homosexual practice in Europe, but they were based mainly on public opinion in the days when most people attended church. Now that church-going has dropped to perhaps 5% (and many churches have changed their view on the issue anyway), public opinion has changed, and the governments have begun removing those laws. I think it's logical, and I support it. Thanks for opening up a good debate. Jules |
Follow ups: