Quote:
Originally posted by rho4life
Separation of church and state!
|
Rho4life, after almost three years of lawschool I can honestly say that there is no true separation of religion and law (which is what I think that most people think of when they write "separation of church and state").
Why is there no true separation of religion and law? Because 1. the foundation of the law is built on, to some extent, moral tenets. What informs morality? Religion largely.
When judges decide case law, thereby creating new law, they look to the law that has gone before but they also look to *policy*. The question for the judge becomes, what policy do we want to encourage for our society. This policy is often informed by what our moral/religious values are.
Therefore, there is no true separation of church and state in the way that you might think. They can't explicitly say that they are following verse x in book y of the bible. But they can say that they don't want to promote behavior x (ex: homosexuality) then make up some reason about how it will lead to a demise/corruption in society as a whole. It happens in case law all the time.
So it is an arguable notion that there is a true and complete separation of church and state.
SC
Threaded Mode