The purpose of this essay is to discuss whether religion should ever impact criminal law. The question of if it is desirable for religion to impact criminal law is endemic. Advocates of a strict application of the separation between church and state may eschew any notion of this being desirable. However, it is submitted that religion impacts criminal law and vice versa. To deny this would be erroneous.
In a religious plurality, the law has a fastidious task of treating religious groups equally – the State must not give a preferential treatment to one particular religion. But how feasible is this? If one accepts that religion should ever impact criminal law, which religion or religions should have an impact?
There have been calls for a Parliamentary inquiry into scale of Sharia law in the UK after the Law Society was ‘accused’ of promoting Islamic law. Although the particular areas of Sharia law currently being reviewed relate to private law (wills), imagine if the Sharia penal code were incorporated into English law? Wouldn’t other religions want to be accommodated in such an arrangement?
The idea of equality before the law is redolent of the Rule of Law doctrine. Dicey predicated:
“No man is above the law; every man and woman, whatever be his or her rank or condition, is subject to the ordinary law of the realm and amenable to the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals”.
While generally used to refer to government according to the law, it is submitted that this principle is germane to religious establishments.
In Wilkinson , the owner of a bed and breakfast had discriminated against a gay couple because of their sexual orientation under the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 by refusing them accommodation...
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... and Blogs/ Newspaper articles
1) BBC ‘March through London to mark 20 years of women priests’ accessed 3/05/2014
2) John Bingham, ‘Sharia Law in UK: calls for Parliamentary inquiry’ (The Telegraph, 23/03/2014) accessed 27/03/2014
3) Katharine Ramsland, ‘David Koresh: Millenial Violence – Crime Library accessed 11/02/2014
4) ‘Love free or die’ (The Economist, 19/04/2014) < http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21600999-time-check-motel-new-hampshire-love-free-or-die> accessed 20/04/2014
5) Mike Parker-Pearson, ‘The Practice of Human Sacrifice’ accessed (11/02/14)
“The principle of stare decisis does not demand that we must follow precedents, which shipwreck justice.”
Gedicks, Frederick Mark. "Religious Exemptions, Formal Neutrality, and Laïcité." Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies. 01 Jul. 2006: 473. eLibrary. Web. 31 Aug. 2011.
Law has no existence for itself; rather its essence lies, from a certain perspective, in the very life of men.
There is a significant difference between government and religious morals even though both are ethical authorities. These two moral authorities conflict with one another while both are to help people make sou...
Religious influence has always been part of the American Government since the beginning. Even in the earliest history of the creation of our Government with the Declaration of Independence God is mentioned in the first paragraph. Though religion over the past two centuries has proven to be an influence on the United States government the influence has a relatively good standing. Religious influence in State and law has been a medium in the beginning of the governmental system but still set influence. The influence though pertained to the religion and idealism of the individuals carrying it ...
Furthermore, Sharia is not only an arrangement of laws but also the proper way of life, and guidance of Allah. For example, in Sharia there are differences between the various schools of law as to the level of what a woman may wear and reveal in public. (Friedland) The Qur 'an is the key source of the Sharia, both the Qur 'an and Hadith push the thought of modesty in the way women of the Islamic faith dress when in public. In essence Sharia is simply endeavors by Muslims to make an arrangement of common society and administration with equity and
It is no surprise as to why the case Riggs v Palmer is such a renowned case, for this case tests the importance of many of the philosophers’ theories, especially on the validity of certain laws and the conflict between law and morality. This hard case has been used as a reference for many court decisions over the years and will be most likely used in the future as well. An inference can be made based on this case and the legal conflicts and issues that the judges faced when reaching their verdict. Those who commit the crime should not be rewarded by attaining what motivated them in the first place as the fruit of their crime, and in the event that such a crime occurs, judges must interpret the law in the same manner that the law makers intended
Everyone has heard about various religious issues in the news at one point or another. With all the controversy surrounding these issues, and whether or not they are constitutional, it seems that people are no longer able to settle things without the help of court systems. Whether it is a matter of parents' actions toward their children or a matter of people claiming that certain rights have been violated, it appears that people are almost using religion as a shield to hide their wrongdoing behind. "Pasting the name 'religion' on harmful behavior does not make it religious exercise protected by our First Amendment," (Thollander). Therefore, the legal system should be allowed to interfere with religious issues only if they infringe upon a state or federal law, or if they violate the rights of another person.
Prior to the establishment of the Abrahamic monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) religious justice was a muddled picture. In the polytheistic religions, gods each had their own interests, which often conflicted with the interests of other gods. “The belief in one god allowed the Abrahamic religions setup a fundamentally different dynamic in ethics; the dichotomous distinction between right and wrong.” (Stark, 2001). Human actions no longer served one god or another’s interests, they were now judged by the embodiment of all that was perfect and sacred; God.
According to philosophers, there are four types of law that guide morality and behavior for humans. Eternal, divine, natural and civil laws all contribute to the quality of life for mankind, but these laws often get confused with each other. This paper will examine two instances of a clash between the civil laws of government and divine laws of religious conviction.
Rothchild, J., Boulton, M. M., & Jung, K. (2012). Doing justice to mercy: Religion, law, and criminal justice. Charlottesville, VA, USA: University of Virginia Press.
-Equity: seen over by the Chancery Court; designed to give relief from strict decisions made by the common law
Due to the fact that I currently work in the jail, I have an understanding why it is important to grant inmates the rights to religious freedoms. Not only it is a person’s right to practice any religion of their choice, but I have find during my time as a Detention Deputy that inmates use religion to cope with the charges that they are facing and to get through their sentencing.
Dicey’s second principle of ROL concerns equality; “every man whatever be his rank or condition is subject to the ordinary law of the realm and amendable to the jurisdiction of the ordinary tribunals”
It is understood that religious beliefs should be excluded from consideration of public policy because it leads to the ignorance of many religious minorities in the face of dominating religious groups. Most people believe that the question on whether re...