![\"We](\"https:\/\/www.orthodoxytoday.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/LifeSiteNews_01_240px.jpg\" "\\"LifeSiteNews_01_240px\\"")
by Kristen Walker –<\/p>\n by Kristen Walker –<\/p>\n
Tell me if this has ever happened to you. It\u2019s lunchtime. You are eating at your desk at work and decide to look at Facebook. It\u2019s as exciting as ever. Your aunt had a burrito for lunch. A girl you haven\u2019t seen since college got a new tattoo. Someone is super happy it\u2019s almost Friday.<\/p>\n
Then you see that a virtual stranger (there\u2019s a double meaning in that) has commented on one of your posts. And she has said something so asinine that you put down your fried pickle (\u2019cause you\u2019re in Texas and you eat stuff like that) and respond.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s daunting, the task before you. Do you even want to undertake this? Can you really change someone\u2019s mind about abortion in one Facebook comment?* <\/p>\n
Well, you\u2019re gonna try. So you launch into refuting whatever dumb thing the person just said. \u201cThere\u2019s no scientific concensus that life begins at conception!\u201d \u201cIf we make it illegal, they\u2019re gonna do it anyway!\u201d \u201cIf you\u2019re against abortion, you should be against war, too!\u201d It could be any of these things, or something else. <\/p>\n
So you drop a couple knowledge bombs, go back to your life, and hours later you find the following response:<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, maybe you\u2019re right, but we can\u2019t legislate morality.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
You look around for a candid camera. Is this an elaborate joke? No. Someone actually said that. Again. You sigh. And you type this: <\/p>\n
“Really? We can\u2019t legislate morality? What do you call it when we tell people they can\u2019t murder<\/strong>? Rape<\/strong>? Steal<\/strong>?”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Criminal Justice 101<\/strong>
\nLet\u2019s do some Criminal Justice 101, shall we? There are two types of laws: malum in se<\/em> and malum prohibitum<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n
- Malum in se<\/i> is a Latin phrase meaning \u201cwrong in itself.\u201d Most of us feel that murder is wrong, therefore there is a law against it.\n<\/li>\n
- Malum prohibitum<\/i> means something is wrong because it is prohibited.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
For example: in the United States we have to drive on the right side of the road, not because driving on the left is inherently evil (I\u2019m lookin\u2019 at you, England!) but because good order meant we had to pick one side. Because we\u2019ve picked right, if you drive on the left, you\u2019re gonna get stopped. Try it, you\u2019ll see.**<\/p>\n
Malum in se<\/em> laws are based on morality. Our laws here in the U.S. grew out of English Common Law, which in turn was based on Judeo-Christian morality. Now, old-timey English lawmakers did not sit around and go, \u201cHmmm, what should we base our laws on?\u201d And then come up with the Bible because it had an attractive leather cover. Judeo-Christian morality was a part of the culture since the 7th century, and has in fact formed Western culture, culminating most recently in our humble little former colony, the United States.<\/p>\n
Detractors will say English Common Law formed in the 5th century, before Christianity took hold in Britain. But the law as we know it didn\u2019t stop forming then. Christian men such as Henry de Bracton in the 13th century in England and Sir William Blackstone in the 18th century in the United States have had a tremendous impact on creating the laws we know today.<\/p>\n
America Founded on Judeo-Christian Principles<\/strong>
\nWhether you like it or not, the culture that created you is a Judeo-Christian culture. All the things you think are right and wrong were formed by Judeo-Christian principles. Why do you think it\u2019s wrong to have slaves? Western culture is just like most other civilizations in that it engaged in slavery, but unique in that it is solely responsible for ridding the world of it. What about having a harem of concubines? That was common in pre-Christian cultures, not so much in the West today. Sacrificing virgins? No big deal to the pagans, but frowned upon in our time.<\/p>\nThe idea of loving people more than ourselves, sacrificing for the poor, turning the other cheek\u2026 these ideas were so revolutionary to the Roman world in which Christianity was born that they were scandalous. The tenets of Christianity made Christians so different they were almost universally hated. They were persecuted and killed all over the Roman Empire, until the Emperor Constantine had a vision. But I digress.<\/p>\n
So those who cry that morals have no place in public policy are a little too late. Judeo-Christian morals created our public policy, created our culture, were the basis for our founding documents, guided the formation of our nation through the beliefs of our founders, and make up the fabric of our society.<\/p>\n
Major Flaw of Postmodern Deconstructionism<\/strong>
\nRecently, a postmodern deconstructionist tendency to wipe American law clean of \u201ctraditional\u201d morality has created not a sparkling tabula rasa<\/em>, but a libertine morass. You don\u2019t have to be a Jew or Christian to recognize there is such a thing as right and wrong. Lately, it seems like the only evil people will recognize is believing in evil.<\/p>\nIronically, the abortion advocate who tells us to keep our morals off her body is herself expressing a moral belief, a belief in liberty. I also believe in liberty, but I believe that in the phrase \u201clife, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,\u201d life comes first for a very good reason: you can\u2019t have liberty without life. I believe a baby\u2019s right to be alive trumps his mother\u2019s right to kill him for any reason she sees fit. Because, as we all know, there are limits to liberty. My liberty ends where, for example, it infringes upon another person\u2019s right to live. Hence, I am free, but not free to murder. I am free to drive, but not into someone\u2019s restaurant. I am free to watch TV, but not \u201cJersey Shore\u201d at Kristen\u2019s house. And so on.<\/p>\n
The next time someone tells you, \u201cWe can\u2019t legislate morality,\u201d tell them, \u201cSure we can! It\u2019s fun and easy! Like Mad Libs!\u201d<\/p>\n
But seriously: this is another argument you can easily shoot down with just a little bit of knowledge. Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.<\/p>\n
——————–
\n*No. But one day I\u2019m gonna set a world record and do it in three.
\n**Please do not try this.<\/p>\nHT: LifeSiteNews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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