| Line 52: |
Line 52: |
| | # Criminal laws against adultery<ref>[http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+18.2-365 Virginia Code § 18.2-365]</ref> are largely unenforced and of doubtful enforceability, but a showing of adultery will influence civil [[divorce]] proceedings and affect the distribution of assets. Jesus clarified the definition of adultery, for instance in Matthew 8:27-32, to include remarriage after divorce in most cases. Until recently, it was difficult to get a divorce in most states other than Nevada for this reason; previously one had to prove fault with one's spouse, but since the 1950s that has changed in every state except [[New York]]. Today all states and many Christian denominations define adultery by the modern English definition<ref>adultery, n. | | # Criminal laws against adultery<ref>[http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+18.2-365 Virginia Code § 18.2-365]</ref> are largely unenforced and of doubtful enforceability, but a showing of adultery will influence civil [[divorce]] proceedings and affect the distribution of assets. Jesus clarified the definition of adultery, for instance in Matthew 8:27-32, to include remarriage after divorce in most cases. Until recently, it was difficult to get a divorce in most states other than Nevada for this reason; previously one had to prove fault with one's spouse, but since the 1950s that has changed in every state except [[New York]]. Today all states and many Christian denominations define adultery by the modern English definition<ref>adultery, n. |
| | Second edition, 1989; online version November 2010. <http://www.oed.com:80/Entry/2845>; accessed 21 December 2010. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1884.</ref> to allow remarriage after divorce. Many Christians believe that this commandment, which forbids adultery,<ref>"voluntary sexual intercourse by a married man with another than his wife or by a married woman with another than her husband"—Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, Unabridged, 1934</ref> also forbids fornication.<ref>"illicit sexual intercourse on the part of an unmarried person; the act of such illicit sexual intercourse between a man and a woman as does not by law amount to adultery" [op. cit.]</ref> | | Second edition, 1989; online version November 2010. <http://www.oed.com:80/Entry/2845>; accessed 21 December 2010. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1884.</ref> to allow remarriage after divorce. Many Christians believe that this commandment, which forbids adultery,<ref>"voluntary sexual intercourse by a married man with another than his wife or by a married woman with another than her husband"—Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language, Second Edition, Unabridged, 1934</ref> also forbids fornication.<ref>"illicit sexual intercourse on the part of an unmarried person; the act of such illicit sexual intercourse between a man and a woman as does not by law amount to adultery" [op. cit.]</ref> |
| − | # The commandment against stealing is enforced by U.S. law. | + | # The commandment against stealing is enforced by U.S. law. See also: [[Atheism and stealing]] |
| | # When used during litigation, or otherwise spoken under oath (see [[perjury]]), the commandment against bearing false witness is enforced by U.S. law. For someone to bear false witness against a neighbor in a less formal setting (e.g. lying to a third party about a neighbor in the course of private conversation) could, in some circumstances, be a [[tort]], but rarely a crime. | | # When used during litigation, or otherwise spoken under oath (see [[perjury]]), the commandment against bearing false witness is enforced by U.S. law. For someone to bear false witness against a neighbor in a less formal setting (e.g. lying to a third party about a neighbor in the course of private conversation) could, in some circumstances, be a [[tort]], but rarely a crime. |
| | # As a prohibition on a form of thought, the commandment against coveting what belongs to another cannot be enforced by legal means. | | # As a prohibition on a form of thought, the commandment against coveting what belongs to another cannot be enforced by legal means. |