Changes

The whole of Plato's "Republic" is aimed at the concept that a just society must begin with this moral understanding and rest upon the morality of its rulers.  Roughly 400 years earlier the Old Testament prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah had repeatedly admonished the people of both kingdoms of Israel with the same message.

The whole of Plato's "Republic" is aimed at the concept that a just society must begin with this moral understanding and rest upon the morality of its rulers.  Roughly 400 years earlier the Old Testament prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah had repeatedly admonished the people of both kingdoms of Israel with the same message.

Secularists start with the assumption that concepts such as duty, loyalty, and “women and children first” already exist as the foundation blocks for constructing a set of moral principles that will be independent of a belief in a deity.  But, where did they come from? Again, in historical fact, those basic concepts – duty, loyalty, and “women and children first” – all arose under political regimes rooted in religious beliefs.  It was in those codes that the earliest known statements of such basic principles occurred.

[[Secularist]]s start with the assumption that concepts such as duty, loyalty, and “women and children first” already exist as the foundation blocks for constructing a set of moral principles that will be independent of a belief in a deity.  But, where did they come from? Again, in historical fact, those basic concepts – duty, loyalty, and “women and children first” – all arose under political regimes rooted in religious beliefs.  It was in those codes that the earliest known statements of such basic principles occurred.

Every code of law in the western world, such as Hammurabi's Code [[http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/CODE.HTM]] from around 1770 BC, has predicated the official state god as its source of legitimacy.  Around 1500 BC, Moses in the same way transmitted the Ten Commandments from God to the Israelite people. In every case the formulaic structure is the same.  The ruler or spiritual leader rules by the power and grace of God, and the ruler's law code is always seen as bringing God's moral justice to his people.  Why should this be uniformly the case? Eric Voegelin and  Friedrich Hayek provide an understanding.

Every code of law in the western world, such as Hammurabi's Code [[http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/CODE.HTM]] from around 1770 BC, has predicated the official state god as its source of legitimacy.  Around 1500 BC, Moses in the same way transmitted the Ten Commandments from God to the Israelite people. In every case the formulaic structure is the same.  The ruler or spiritual leader rules by the power and grace of God, and the ruler's law code is always seen as bringing God's moral justice to his people.  Why should this be uniformly the case? Eric Voegelin and  Friedrich Hayek provide an understanding.