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What is the impact of religion on legal beliefs?

Religion and law are two basic means to maintain social stability and development. The formation and development of religion have a profound impact on law, and touch on the institutional and value levels of law.

Law is a normative system that regulates social relations. Where there are people, there must be laws, which make people's lives orderly; religion is people's reaction to the illusion and distortion of real life. Wherever there is suffering, there is a need for religion, which provides people with psychological comfort. People not only pursue the material world, but also pursue spiritual sustenance and sublimation. The law can only regulate people's activities in objective reality, while religion can provide people with a spiritual home. Therefore, law and religion are two important means to ensure the stability and development of human society. They are interconnected and complementary to each other, and jointly ensure the healthy, stable and coordinated development of human society.

1. Law and religion work together to safeguard the development of human society

Human society is complex and requires law and religion to work together from both material and spiritual aspects. Adjustment, both are indispensable. Therefore, while strengthening the role of law, we must pay attention to the cultivation of religious beliefs. While cultivating religious spirit, we must also pay attention to the regulation of life by law. However, religion and law are two different norms after all, with different essential goals and adjustment methods. Law is formulated, recognized and guaranteed to be implemented by the state. It reflects the will of the ruling class, has rights and obligations as its basic content, and is a normative system that adjusts social relations. Its main characteristics are that it is guaranteed by the coercive power of the state and focuses on solving practical problems in real society. Its ultimate goal is to establish a society ruled by law, a country ruled by law, and to form the authority of the supremacy of law. Religion is people's personal belief in the meaning of life. The purpose of religion is to believe in supernatural power and obtain spiritual comfort from it. It mainly solves people's distress and pain in the spiritual field. It provides relief from the suffering in the real world. It enables people to realize their dissatisfaction with the present world in their yearning for the future.

2. The influence of religion on law. People generally believe that Western civilization is Christian civilization. At the same time, the majority of people in Western society currently believe in Christianity. Related to this, Western society is currently doing the best in building the rule of law in the world. Good country.

Christianity has a comprehensive impact on Western society, and its impact on law not only touches the normative and institutional levels, but also penetrates into the value and spiritual levels. It can be said that the legal life of Western people, whether it is the specific operation of litigation or people's firm belief in the law, is imprinted with Christ.

(1) Christianity has had a profound impact on the content of Western legal norms:

(1) Give wives a more equal legal status in the family and combine the rights of both spouses. Consensus is a prerequisite for the validity of a marriage. Abolition of the father's power over the life and death of his children. Emphasize monogamy and maintain family stability. When families are stable, society is stable. Because the family is the most basic cell of society.

(2) Between strict law and equity, emphasize the concept of equity and moderate the severity of general law. Western society generally advocates and implements lighter punishment and improves the treatment of prisoners. Many countries have abolished the death penalty and implemented open prison management. This has a significant relationship with the traditional influence of Christianity. Because Western society generally believes that only God can take away human life!

(2) The impact of religion on legal value:

The religious spirit of Western society is equality, fraternity, freedom and order. And these spirits all penetrate into the value of law and become the goal pursued by the rule of law. This can be proved from the origin of legal words: as we all know, the foundation of modern Western law is Roman law. In ancient Rome, the word law was justice, Lustus. In order to express law in an intrinsic and purposive sense, that is, in terms of its purpose and substance, the Romans used Aequitas, which is derived from a root meaning equality. It embodies the declarative principle of law, which determines the conditions and limits for the activities of a single person. These conditions and limits are equal to everyone. Law is defined by the Book of Jeremiah as "the art of goodness and justice", Ulpian The definition of proposed law is: "Live honestly, do not offend others, and everyone gets what he deserves."

Because the royal power has always been dominant in the history of our country. Religion has never occupied a dominant position in politics or spiritual life, and there are both local and foreign religions in our country. It has never formed a religion that is unified across the country and widely recognized by people. Therefore, some religious values ??are not widely accepted by people. The various religions in our country have not formed a unified understanding, so it is difficult to have a unified impact on the law. At the same time, our country's traditional Confucian culture has always emphasized virtue as the main force and punishment as the assistant, and the inner sage and the outer king. The spirit and concept of law are rarely explored and theoretically supported. At present, the key to promoting the rule of law in our country is to establish legal authority and make the law religious and sacred. "Justice requires a corresponding grand appearance and a certain dramatic demonstration. Otherwise people will not see it. They will not even know that it exists. The character who declares the principles of justice will also make his essence different from the ordinary appearance. be sublimated.” It is currently impossible to cultivate a unified religion in our country, and it is difficult to gain government recognition and social acceptance. The key is that we must treat the law as a religion to cultivate people's belief in it and piety towards it. The religiousization of law does not mean turning the law into religious doctrine, nor does it mean bringing some things in religion that are not in line with human rationality into the value category of the law. Because doing so is not the progress of social civilization, but the regression of history. All we have to do is to incorporate some religious spirits that are generally recognized by mankind into the scope of law, establish the authority of the supremacy of law, and promote the process of rule of law in our country from the following aspects: First of all, in the law-making process, that is, the legislative process, we must reflect The rationality of natural law conforms to the concept of law, and the law in a society governed by law must be a good law. The key to making the law a good law is that we must incorporate some of the spirits of equality, fraternity, freedom, and kindness contained in religion into the legislative process when making legislation.

Reflect the religious spirit of equality and fraternity in the guiding ideology of legislation. The law should not be regarded as a tool to govern the people, but should be regarded as a measure of right and wrong. In terms of legal principles and the establishment of the legal system, the requirements for equality must be reflected, the same people should be given the same treatment, and the legitimate rights of criminal suspects and defendants should be protected. Because from a religious perspective, whether they are sinners or good people, they are all God's people and are all equal before God. What's more, Buddhism also advocates "putting down the butcher's knife and becoming a Buddha immediately." Therefore, the formulation of laws should reflect the religious spirit. Secondly, in the process of law enforcement, we must adhere to procedural justice and implement religious spirit to prevent law enforcers from becoming legal killers. Law enforcers must embody the benevolence and compassion of the law in enforcing the law. The most popular definition of law in ancient Roman legal circles is that "law is the science of justice and injustice." This spirit of justice must be reflected in law enforcement. Law enforcers must handle interpersonal disputes fairly and be courageous in all situations. , and also requires not to use one's own legal wisdom to circumvent the law and harm society. At the same time, we must effectively achieve judicial independence and judicial impartiality, so that the principles of freedom, fairness and justice in the religious spirit can truly penetrate into judicial work, and ultimately achieve comprehensive, fair and reasonable law-abiding, law enforcement and judicial work. Thirdly, it is necessary to further deepen the publicity and education of the law, improve the legal awareness and legal level of all members of society, establish the religious authority of the law, and lay a foundation of faith for promoting the construction of the legal system.

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