Friday, September 13, 2024

THE RULE OF LAW DOES NOT RULE IN LAS CRUCES

      In this campaign, more than in any other which I can recall over the past 76 years, the rule of law—not “law and order”—is a major, maybe the major, issue.  In considering the issue, I looked back to the earliest continuing law in the Western World, the Ten Commandments.  Notably, they fuse legal requirements and religious guidance, and are not merely associated with, but essential to, Judaism.  Thus, Jewish law has the inherent approval and inalienable support of religion.  So, too, Islam, its sibling; not, Christianity, its offspring, with its different relationship to law.

     Arguably, Christianity offers no legal (and little moral) guidance.  The argument would begin by noting Paul’s repudiation of Jewish law and Christian antipathy to that law ever since.  As a member of a discussion group of members of Peace Lutheran Church who read a book about reforming Christianity in the 21st century, I observed that Christianity had no code of conduct as Judaism had, with its 613 laws.  That statement of fact prompted an angry response from two members who demanded to know why Jews needed so many laws; surely, the Ten Commandments were sufficient.  Silence for a moment.  So I replied that it was appropriate only for Jews to choose which and how many laws they want for themselves.  The objection to the number of laws likely unread suggests discomfort with submission to the rule of law.

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