What is the source of law? Many people are taught, or come to conclude on their own, that religion is the source of law. This misguided belief is probably more widespread in monotheistic religions, which tend to have as their godhead some sort of divine lawgiver, than in pantheistic or maybe even polytheistic religions.
The religion-as-source-of-law is particularly common among Americans who believe the U.S. is a Christian nation and espouse all sorts of Judeo-Christian nonsense.1
My own hypothesis is that religion and law may have evolved in proximity, and indeed very closely, but by no means does law come from religion and by no account is religion required for law, or ethics, or morality. In my hypothesis, law and religion don’t evolve together; rather, law and ritual evolve together, and it is ritual and not law that is tied to religion. (more…)