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you are here: > Self > 22. LEX
| 22.7 | Religious law |
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| Many of the world’s oldest religions have and still are structured around a body of law that also served for the management of not only matters of faith, but civil matters and sometimes even criminal matters. |
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| In the religious sense, law can be thought of as the ordering principle of reality; knowledge as revealed by God defining and governing all human affairs. Law, in the religious sense, also includes codes of ethics and morality which are upheld and required by God. Examples include customary Hindu law, Canon law (Roman Catholic), Shari’a (Islamic law), Halakha (Jewish law), and the divine law of the Mosaic code or Torah. |
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| 22.7.1 | The benefits of religious law |
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| Unfortnately religious law tends to benefit only a narrow set of individuals and the organisation itself rather the general prosperity of a society. Where religious law has been adopted as equal or superior to secular and civil law systems, the economic and social prosperity of those societies have dramatically dropped. |
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| In Europe when Christian religious law reigned supreme for over 1,400 years, the quality of life, the existence of fair and just legal systems were virtually non-existence for 99.9% of the population. A similar, although far less dramatic example is seen today with the brutal repression of human rights and prosperity in nations enforcing Islamic shari’a law over civil law. |
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| 22.7.2 | The negatives of religious law |
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| Overwhelmingly, religious law tends to be a negative influence on the promotion of fair and equitable legal systems. Instead, religious law when introduced following a regime change or some dramatic event historically has accompanied great social destruction and corruption. |
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| It is why religious tolerance should permit religions to require within certain limits that their followers adhere to the rules of being members to their organisation that religions are not permitted to dominate the legal systems of the state. |
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| In recent years, this secularized position of many western nations has started to be actively challenged by coordinated and connected Christian groups seeking a closer adoption of religious law and policies in their society. The United States, parts of the Europe and more recently Australia are examples of nations undergoing increasing antagonism between forces seeking to maintain secular values and Christian promoters seeking greater influence of Christian religious laws. | ||
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