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Law and Government are Rooted in Faith

Simply put, lawmakers base their laws on something; generally what they believe to be "right". How is "right" determined? In the end, whether explicit or implicit, it is based upon beliefs that are accepted by faith. The question that follows for every government and legal system is not whether it will be based upon "religion" but rather which religion or religious philosophy will serve as its foundation. What is the prevailing philosophical foundation of the United States Government? How about the Democratic and Republican parties?

Here is a helpful quote on this topic:

Every system of government produces and enforces certain laws, and every law necessarily entails a set of moral assumptions. All morality -- even that which is usually supposed to be, or touted as being, based upon an "irreligious" or "anti-religions" philosophical foundation -- is ultimately religious in its nature, since it is founded upon a set of pretheoretical presuppositions, fundamental assumptions about the nature of reality, about God, man, and things, which are taken on (a usually unacknowledged) faith. In this deepest sense, then, the question for every legal system is not whether it will be based upon "religion" but rather which religion or religious philosophy will be its foundation. Archie Jones, quoted in Myths, Lies and Half-Truths, by American Vision's Gary Demar.

Laws can't making society good but they should be based upon what is good.

Update:

One of the best blog postings I've seen related to this subject is by David at Physicist's Perspective. I was going to follow-up my statements above with something on legislating morality but he has already done it.

See my related post - Religion Matters in Politics.

Posted by tim at August 31, 2004 4:41 AM

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» Is it Biblical to "legislate morality"? from A Physicist's Perspective
It's a relatively common view (even within Christian circles) that we can't or shouldn't legislate morality. While I don't think we can force people to be moral, I think the Bible shows that our government should, generally speaking, have laws which ... [Read More]

Tracked on October 21, 2004 2:28 PM