The Link between Law and Religion - Essay Example

The Link Between Law and Religion Introduction For a long time, questions have arisen: Is it right according to religionor law? The response is not that simple. The political science of religion deals with an examination of the effect of politics on religion along with the influence of religion on politics with specific focus on political parties, governments, and pressure groups, together with religious societies. Various elements of religious practices and teachings have direct law contents and messages, including religious understanding of peace, authority, war, political organizations, and state. Equally important, there are several moral codes and ethical conduct that are taught by the religious traditions. The link between law and religion is manifested in the Islamic sharia, Christian canon law, Hindu law, and Jewish among others. Therefore, drawing on a variety of sources the paper will discuss the links between law and religion. Discussion Both in substance and origin, the link between law and religion have always been assumed to exist, even though they are two different concepts. The connecting component between these two is the human being. Both law and religion contribute to the social order. On one hand, law is considered as a set of rules of conduct that is aimed at guiding human behavior in order to differentiate good from bad (Howard 79). Law is used to advance the general good by developing legal rights of which it is mandatory to abide by. On the other hand, Edge (29) notes that religion has numerous definitions and anti-definitions of which none have attained dominance. In a view shared by Matadi, religion is a normative system that affects people’s lives and also determines their conduct. Also, religion established the relationship between a person and the Supreme Being. For Muslims, the source of religion lies in the Quran, for Christians it lies in the Bible, and for the native religions, it lies in the customs, rituals, and object passed on from the ancestor’s or gods. Hagedorn, Kratz, and Kratz (365) posit that there exists a complex relationship between law as a set of rules that govern the social and political existence of mankind, and religion, which is a body of spiritual doctrines and a system of rituals and norms of behavior.” Law is accepted as a natural product of the informal interaction rules in the society. Therefore, religion can also be accepted as a crucial source of law considering that social rules and norms are usually influenced by the religious values of societies. Correspondingly, religion also provides a set of standards to a person’s actions and it affects the informal rules of interaction in the society and it therefore a crucial source of law. Religion is a source of law in the legal as well as political order. This shows the legitimacy of religious input in law is identified substantively and institutionally. In both law and religion, truth is often measured in degrees of convergence. In other words, religion and law share various similarities. In both, law and religion they are studied by analyzing authoritative texts. The other similarity is that in both formalities and rituals, as well as fixed procedure play a very crucial role. In both religion and law, non-compliance results in varied forms of penalties. Both religion and law are based morality (Witte 327). While in religion, morality is determined by the correlation between the Supreme Being and humans, in law morality is established by the relationship between the society and human beings. In some instances, law is thought as a codification of cultural morality; even though particular laws in the system can be considered as immoral. Graham puts emphasis on personal regeneration via the experience of sin, success, and repentance. Furthermore, he argued that people need to live morally upright lives. Incidentally, morality is considered as a necessary attribute of law. Sarat (16) notes that legal categorizations of states have framed religious myths in order to fuse national philosophy. There are various socio-political forces which reflect the strong human desires and religion that were interlinked to develop a political mechanism which drove the people towards a common goal. The interdependence between religion and law if further reinforced in the nations where religion was completely detached from the legalistic political strategy have witnessed resistance and religious dissent. Most of these regimes are dictatorial. However, law is a product of consensus and has evolved to maintain this consensus. Researchers have demonstrated that evolved out of conflict between the interest groups. When a religious is put in a position where their beliefs and practices are in conflict with the law, they often suffer from a special type of harm in contrast to an individual whose is in conflict with the law for some other reasons. In other words, the assumed link between religious interests and other collective interests needs clear recognition of the law and religious interests (Edge 7). Graham’s revival message was the necessity of God as well as the possibility of personal salvation. He asserts that without God one cannot have hope. In this conservative view, people are flawed and capable of being evil; therefore, to discover what is good they need to values of religion. According to Graham, religion has set out the rules that people can also follow to attain good. The law of nature has closely been associated with religion and positive law during the European Middle Ages. The Roman law’s Institutes and medieval canon law found the existence of a connection between them. The natural law acted as a bridge between religion and law. Hugo Grotius (d.1645) once shared the view that the acceptance of the law needed belief in God. The law of nature extended beyond Christianity to other religions. However, the Ten Commandments were held to outline the state principles of natural law. For example, “Thou shall not Kill” (Exo. 20: 13 King James Version). This is a command from God, although it was also included the core principles of the natural law (Decock, Ballor and Germann 91-92). This shows the convergence of truth between law and religion. In the 16th and 17th centuries the Catholics and Protestants alike were in agreement of the principle features of the natural law (Decock, et al., 91-92). With regard to Graham’s regulatory claims, religious politics are linked to the protestant middle class values. The Roman canon law was used litigation argument and even legal advancement. In the liberal secular states, there is a differentiated state authority and religious authority. In this case, it implies that it is not the duty of the state to enforce religious norms and values on its populace. As cited by Sarat (17), the state often does not endorse any particular religious institution. There are laws that allow every citizen to exercise a free religious choice. The western legal traditions have significantly been influenced by the Christian thought. As cited in the example of “Thou shall not kill,” it existed in the Roman canon law and most secular states have formulated laws that prohibit taking of life. In the liberal secular states, the strategy of co-opting the dominant religion in state law and legal ideology, and recognizing the religious non-ruling communities has been used by most nations as a way of getting around other collective identities of the same non-ruling communities. The world in not theistic, but is eternally sympathetic. This is where the correlation between religion and law come in. All religions carry certain values and views that are related to law. In other words, there is a strong correlation between law and religion. While the religious law bases its laws on moral aspects of the actions, the constitutional laws are based coercive actions. In law, we have a criminal offense, while in religious terms it is usually referred to as a sin. As a means of coercion the people are held accountable for committing such acts such as incarceration. Contrarily, religion gives canons. Canons are often given to a person with an aim of correcting to change for the better and not as punishment. The link between law and religion is also evident in secularization. As argued by Graham, secularism in not irreligious or anti-religious, but it is an obsession with personal materials. As noted by Stolzenberg (599), the secularization thesis has dominated the world for centuries in relation to the role of religion in the modern society. The liberal concepts embodied in the modern secular law are historically based on the Christian theological thought. It is often assumed that the modern western law is objective, unbiased, and by implication a product of secular societies. In this perspective, the liberal legal cultures that were embedded in the particularities of Christian morality have made the western law more universalistic and support a secular system (Stolzenberg 600). On the contrary, some nations have made religion and law to have similar content. This often evidenced in the fundamentalist Islamic religious nations where law and religion have been equated. For example, the Quran posits that a person who commits a theft offense should have his or her hand cut. The state law usually applies this religious rule to its citizens. The Sharia law is the religious law of Islam. Apart from the Quran, it also derived from the examples set by Prophet Muhammad commonly known as sunnah. However, the modern, traditional, and fundamental Islamists hold varied views regarding the sharia law. The use of sharia law has been a longstanding objective for the majority of the Islamic movements in Muslim nations. Proceeding further, the halakha are a collection of rabbinic Jewish religious laws that were derived from Old Torah. The halakhah was developed through various legal mechanisms, such as legislative enactments, judicial resolutions, and customary law. Traditionally, the Jews defined themselves as a ‘people’. This was a term that connoted the biblical notions of political nationhood and divine election to the status of followers of Mosaic Law (Stolzenberg 594). The link between law and religion is demonstrated in government formation. Calo (2) observes that the modern secular order has changed the shape of law. The deepest effect of law has occurred at the level of conceptual jurisprudence. As a result, religion now resides outside because it lacks any role in restructuring the level of conceptual meaning. The modern law has been developed by the modern society. The outstanding feature of the modern law is its positivity. The positivity means that the law is a set of rules developed by human action and in large extent separated from morals. The modern law is not considered as a reflection of the higher moral norms of supreme origin. On the other hand, the religious laws have been developed on the norms of divine origin. In the same way, studies have demonstrated that in today’s world, integrated via common democratic principles like equality, the traditional religions still affect the legal regulations based on their teachings. However, in such situations the religious others are left devoid of a realistic likelihood of carrying out their religious choices. Therefore, in order to enhance the recognition as well as the inclusion of religious ‘others,’ the principles of coherence need to be increased in the legal system and also reduce disparity between the legal principles and application of law. In particular nations, the traditional religions still enjoy the substantial freedom to exist in the public domain, for instance, the Greek blasphemy rules and endorsement of the natural law in the Maltese constitution. On the contrary, other religions have met challenges in gaining legal and social acceptance. As an example, Islam is defended against by invoking secular arguments (Gozdecka 235). In a democracy, the religious groups that demand for a bigger influence in the public domain often accuse the state of imposing secular values and ignoring the religious values in public life. They equally view their moral models as useful for the existence of the democratic state (Gozdecka 239). The scholars of law and religion have improved our understanding of the relationship between religion and law. However, the fundamental ideas of modern law, such as freedom and rights and the very concept of religion itself have developed a complex interplay of beliefs and religious groups (Stolzenberg 587). The Reformation that launched by Martin Luther an attack to the Catholic Church and the downfall of political absolutism and the rise of liberal democracy as viewed in the lens of the trial of Charles I as well as the publication of Rights of Man by Thomas Paine are each given a chapter or two in an attempt to give an overview of the interrelationship of religion in the formation of modern law (Stolzenberg 588). According to Stolzenberg (583) argues that the religious origins of the fundamental legal concepts are supposed to be put into consideration. Religion needs to treated as a distinct case within law rather than simply being considered as something subjective. Religion has played a key role in the European Union legal order. First, religion and humanist institutions have been recognized as a source of EU’s constitutional values. Second, the religious institutions have been recognized as playing a crucial role in the process of law making. Lastly, religion has also played a major role in EU’s substantive law (McCrea 1-2). There are various views that are held in religion which have clashed with the rule of law in various nations. Religion is an emotional subject and often results in extreme views. Views on homosexuality, abortion, and death penalties continue to raise debates about their legitimacy as well as illegitimacy in equal measure. However, it is often the law that is usually upheld. Some people are of the opinion that law and religion are supposed to be mutually exclusive. Conclusion In summary, law cannot be separated from religion. There is a very strong relationship between law and religion. Both religion and law contribute to the social order, and it comes out clearly that they are aimed at arranging and establishing standards of decency so as to live in a no offense society as the law would stipulate or a sinless community as religion puts it. Religion and law are indispensable and indivisible for the integral pursuit and realization of the common good of an individual and the society as a whole. In a similar perspective, a complex relationship exists between law and religion. Due to the numerous connections between law and religion, the state laws support often support certain religious values and practices and interfere with others. Works Cited Calo, Zachary. Constructing the Secular: Law and Religion Jurisprudence in Europe and the United States. EUI Working Paper (RSCAS). New York: European University Institute, 2014. Decock, Wim, Ballor, Jordan, Germann, Michael, Waelkens, Laurent. Law and Religion: The Legal Teachings of the Protestant and Catholic Reformations. Bristol: Vandenhoeck & Ruprech, 2014. Edge, Peter. Religion and Law: An Introduction, New York: Ashgate Publishing, 2013. Print. Gozdecka, Dorota. Religion and legal boundaries of democracy in Europe: European commitment to democratic principles. . Web. 2009. Accessed March 14, 2015. Hagedorn, Anselm, Reinhard Gregor Kratz and Reinhard Kratz. Law and Religion in the Eastern Mediterranean: From Antiquity to Early Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Howard, Vogel. "A Survey and Commentary on the New Literature in Law and Religion," Journal of Law and Religion (1983) 1(1): 79-169. Matadi. Introduction to law: The link between law, religion, individual mortality and community mores. . Web. February, 2015. Accessed March 14, 2015. McCrea, Ronan. Recognition of religion within the constitutional and political order of the European Union. LEQS Paper No. 10/2009. London: London School of Economics and Political Science, 209. Print. Sarat, Austin. Law and Religion. . Web. 2007. Accessed March, 2015. Stolzenberg, Nomi. "Righting the relationship between race and religion," Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 31.3 (2011): 583-602. Witte, John. "The Study of Law and Religion in the United States: An Interim Report," Ecclesiastical Law Journal, 14.3(2012): 327-354. Read More