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Judeo-Christianity and Law

In most places were Judeo-Christian cultures have settled, the Judeo-Christian value system has supplanted previous cultures and value systems. It originally did so by means of fire, sword, and death for those who would not convert, though in recent times it has chosen less overt methods of ideological assertion.

Despite its new face, it cannot deny that its formative years brought a legacy of brutality and desire for absolute control and that this same interest remains in the Judeo-Christian value system, though now absent of direct physical violence. Priests and authorities in the past and present have wielded Judeo-Christian values and teachings as a weapon of control against the masses to keep them in the lower section of the social hierarchy.

Authorities once told the masses that they ruled by "God's will" and that any attempt to supplant their authority would result in eternal punishment by God. Such claims of acting by "God's will" were used to justify all excesses and are unarguable so long as one believes the premise that authority is divine and therefore exists beyond any questioning or criticism.

In past centuries, priests enjoyed considerable control over the masses by claiming that they alone spoke directly to God and disseminated his teachings and demands. For this service, tithes were charged of the entire population which filled the church's coffers with considerably wealth. But such profit from direct access to God was not limited to that practice alone. Priests also sold indulgences for the right price which were marketed as basically a "get out of sin free" card. People who "sinned" frequently would buy many of these so that they could be assured of forgiveness by God and access to Heaven in case they ever committed a sin and died before being able to confess it to the eager ears of the priest.

Priests naturally could control the market demand by defining common behaviors as "sins" if more funds were needed to fill the coffers. It does not go without notice that many quite natural behaviors, such as sexual interest, have been classified as "sins" though no coherent explanation has ever been offered for the classification of this sin. Further, it has not been explained how God's omniscient reasoning could create humans as sexual creatures but then allegedly order them to not act upon the sexual instincts given to them.

Despite the numerous flaws of the Judaic and Christian tradition, American law often cites Judaic and Christian law as its justification. Though neither of these religions has ever displayed any trustworthy or reliable basis for its claims of universal truth, public benefit, or relevancy to modern society, the fact that these value systems are historical seems to be enough of an argument for courts to continue the application of these laws. It would be plainly ridiculous if the Judaic or Christian law which bans pork remained enforced today, yet no one considers the absurd lack of basis for other ancient values created by these religions of migrant slave workers.

When a constitutional challenge was made to Virginia's sodomy law in 1975 (403 F. Supp 1199), the court claimed the statute was legitimate and showed the State's interest merely because it had remained on the books for so long and was rooted in Judaic and Christian law.

Although a questionable law is not removed from question by the lapse of any prescriptive period, the longevity of the Virginia statute does testify to the State's interest and its legitimacy. It is not an upstart notion; it has ancestry going back to Judaic and Christian law.
(403 F.Supp 1199, 1202)

The court opinion goes on to quote Biblical passages as justification for the law.

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
(Leviticus 18:22)

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
(Leviticus 20:13)
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Polygamy

POLYGAMY occurs when a spouse is married to more than one person at the same time. Polygamy is illegal in the United States. Polygamous marriages have been illegal since 1878 when the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that one of the basic tenets of Western civilization was the marriage of one man to one woman. Therefore, anyone who marries for the second time without ending a first marriage could be charged with polygamy.