We all know that societies operating under God’s Laws never transgress them, and those who HAVEN’T received the 10 Commandments never do anything ELSE. Right?
Only three of the 10 Commandments have any business being codified into civil law: The prohibitions on killing, stealing, and bearing false witness (perjuring another; if you’ve committed a crime, saying “I didn’t do it” doesn’t violate this Commandment, but saying “That guy did it” does). And these, in some form or another, have been included in every criminal code that’s ever been formulated, whether theologically-based or not, whether Abrahamic or not.
The Rule that SHOULD be adhered to but rarely makes it into the law books is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (or in an earier – and some would argue superior – formulation, “Do NOT do unto others that which would be hateful to yourself”), which likewise is hardly unique to “Judeo-Christian” morality. It would be nearly impossible to phrase with the required specificity, let alone to enforce, but (as Hillel said) “That is the whole of the Law. The rest is just commentary.”
We all know that societies operating under God’s Laws never transgress them, and those who HAVEN’T received the 10 Commandments never do anything ELSE. Right?
Only three of the 10 Commandments have any business being codified into civil law: The prohibitions on killing, stealing, and bearing false witness (perjuring another; if you’ve committed a crime, saying “I didn’t do it” doesn’t violate this Commandment, but saying “That guy did it” does). And these, in some form or another, have been included in every criminal code that’s ever been formulated, whether theologically-based or not, whether Abrahamic or not.
The Rule that SHOULD be adhered to but rarely makes it into the law books is “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (or in an earier – and some would argue superior – formulation, “Do NOT do unto others that which would be hateful to yourself”), which likewise is hardly unique to “Judeo-Christian” morality. It would be nearly impossible to phrase with the required specificity, let alone to enforce, but (as Hillel said) “That is the whole of the Law. The rest is just commentary.”