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Religion, Humanness and Law (Moose)
Religion, Humanness and Law (Moose)
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RELIGION, HUMANNESS AND LAW 2
Introduction
The wide spread prosocial religions have played important role in shaping the large-scale
societies, where, anonymous connections are vital to overall social fabric. The ethical and moral
codes different religions emphasize are beneficial for overall societal development and have
brought many important changes in existing legislations (Sullivan, 2017). However, the
constructive impact of religion on society, morality, humaneness and law depends on the maturity
level of people. It may have determinantal impact on the society and law if instead of considering
it a voluntary belief, it is rigidly imposed on the people having no interest in following the religious
debatable and abstract in nature. It can bring positive transformations in societal settings and could
be used to enhance the current legislations or introduce new more effective regulations. At the
same time, it can affect some societal groups by inducing them to adopt path that they do not want
to follow (Kaveny, 2016). In this essay, author intends to discuss the influence of religion on
attitude towards idea of humaneness and law in contemporary societal settings. The discussion
will be mainly based on the concepts shared by Eva Darian-Smith in her book “Religion, race and
rights”.
Discussion
Religion has been traditionally associated with promoting ethics and morality. It is a belief
system that intends to bring the best out of its followers on ethics and moral grounds. Religious
codes and conducts promote the idea of “humaneness”. The mature following of religious
RELIGION, HUMANNESS AND LAW 3
sculptures resolves many complex societal issues and plays important role in making this world a
better place to live in. The idea of humaneness is based on collectivity and inclusion of all human
beings irrespective of race, age, gender and ethnicity. All prosocial religions promote such social
inclusion, but the complex interpretation of various religious commandments have erected social
The advancements in the “human rights movements” in many western societies have
challenged the widely accepted notion that “religions make people moral and ethical” and have
caused societies to rethink how religion promotes the idea of humaneness. Review of 18th century
suggests that religious landscape was very complex within North American region. The rigid
following of religions and inflexible and intolerant attitude towards people from other religions
resulted into political and social exclusion of some societal groups (Darian-Smith, 2010). The
implicit and explicit religious discrimination highlighted the need to separate the state and church
and ensure religious liberty to secure the freedom and basic human rights.
debatable issue in contemporary literature. Different interpretation of humanness has led the
society to draw different conclusions. The ideas of liberalization and secularism have emerged
because of low religious tolerance and highlight the western society’s distrust and anxiety due to
on-going wars between different religions. Religious beliefs influence the attitude towards
humaneness that consequent affect the law. However, it is a debatable issue whether religion
should or should not influence the law in culturally diversified societal settings (Edge & Harvey,
2017).
The interplay of law, religion and race has been well-discussed by Eve Darian. Author
discussed the interconnectedness between three concepts that frame the western law including
RELIGION, HUMANNESS AND LAW 4
rights, race and religion. Religious influence on law affects the rationale and objective nature of
law and its wide applicability in racially diversified society. Moral sensibilities and social values
are neither apolitical nor universal in nature and continuously redefine the concept of justice in
Historical review of landmark legal decisions suggests that religion has always influenced
the law. The interconnectedness between rights, race and religion refine the understanding of
complex sociological and legal issues. The myopic view of law makes many western countries to
believe that law holds universal application. However, difference in the religious beliefs and
sociocultural aspects weaken the transferability, transportability and translatability of law across
different religious communities and political landscapes (Darian-Smith, 2010). Modern society is
interested to understand how religions influence the legislations and overall societal welfare. The
literature review reveals that analysts withhold different opinions about impact of religion on law.
One factor that causes the fatal problems is religious followers’ rigid belief that religion is science.
They place higher importance to the beliefs promoted by their religious sculptures instead of
In some societies, the imposition of religious standards improved the law and order
situation by reducing the crime and in other societal settings, the immature handling of religion
resulted into some destructive changes in laws. For example, in many third world countries,
religious values and laws about family planning contradict each other. Moreover, same sex
marriage issue is another debate where religious influence is visible on relevant legislations (Edge
& Harvey, 2017). Religions provide the basic code of conduct about how to live an ethical and
moral life. However, the critics argue that following a religion is not must to promote the idea of
humanism. Religion can add value in promoting this idea but is not inevitable for becoming a
RELIGION, HUMANNESS AND LAW 5
better human being or holding the idea of humanism. Mostly, people promoting humanism or
referring themselves as “humanists” tend to avoid association with a particular religion (Green,
2017).
The societal structure must not embed the social hierarchy to promote the idea of equality
between human beings irrespective or race and ethnicity. Wars between different religions and
their complex interpretations have promoted the ideas of developing secular states that could
ensure the religious freedom besides ensuring the human rights. Religion can promote the idea of
equality and humaneness if society can develop the religious tolerance and on-going war between
different religious followers could be brought to end. Religiously tolerant individuals are more
likely to embrace the concept of humaneness and successfully indulge into a culturally diversified
Conclusion
Based on the above discussion, it is concluded that religion plays important role in societal
welfare and its influence on law is also inevitable. However, it is important to resolve the complex
religious dynamics in different societal settings to understand how religions influence the attitude
towards humaneness and how it impacts the law. Religious beliefs influence the human behavior
towards equality and justice. Allowing religion to influence the law can be detrimental if society
lacks the religious tolerance. On-going wars between different religions and low religious
tolerance have promoted the ideas of secularism and liberalism. A clear differentiation between
religious freedom and separation of state and church is required to clearly understand religious
influence on attitude towards humaneness and law. A civilized society requires social equality and
equal social, economic and political rights. A tolerant attitude towards religious following can
promote the idea of humanness and can bring positive changes in law.
RELIGION, HUMANNESS AND LAW 6
References
Darian-Smith, E. (2010). Religion, race, rights: Landmarks in the history of modern Anglo-
American law. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Edge, P. W., & Harvey, G. (2017). Law and Religion in Contemporary Society: communities,
individualism and the state. Routledge.
Sullivan, W. F. (2017). “Going to Law”: Reflections on Law, Religion, and Mitra Sharafi's Law
and Identity in Colonial South Asia. Law & Social Inquiry, 42(4), 1231-1239.