All Law is Religious
It is often said that religion and politics don’t mix. Secularists want to make religion a private matter of conscience and believe Scripture has no real place in public policy. However, it is a myth that law can have ultimate neutrality. All societies are “religious,” even the anti-God ones. Why? Because “religion” is the value system people use to construct the laws that run their lives. Religion is a view of reality by which laws are established that reward some behavior and penalize others. To determine laws, one must determine the ethics of what is right and what is wrong. There are always principles behind the religious choice of defining right and wrong. All laws tell people what they should or should not do. “Shoulds” and “should nots” are ethical considerations. And ethical considerations structure every aspect of life. This is inescapably a religious function. The ethical framework within which one lives is one’s religion.
All law is religious because it affirms a moral code for mankind. Full neutrality is impossible, as every worldview and government is rooted in underlying philosophical or faith-based beliefs. The truth is, all laws legislate a particular moral or religious position. Underlying all government policy are foundational ideologies with traceable religious roots. The question in government is then, by what principles will it be governed?
Atheists and humanists believe mankind is the source for determining right and wrong through reason and philosophy, while Christians believe the God of the Bible determines it. Obviously, there are extreme examples where the state enforces a particular religious practice such as Sharia Law in Muslim societies or the state-sanctioned church in medieval England. But that is a radical step past the reality we are talking about here. The laws and principles of Scripture can and should be used for government. This does not mean forcing everyone to become Christian. Governments are vehicles of values based on either the perspectives of God (Matthew 4:4) or man.
To separate a man’s religious convictions from how he votes on the issues of the culture around him is like trying to separate breathing from being alive—it can’t be done. We can and should keep the institution of the Church and the institution of the civil government separate, for each has its biblically defined sphere. But you can’t separate your worldview or your view of reality—which is the real definition of the word “reality”—from the exercise of those views in your civic duties as a citizen.
All societies have laws and, in order to obtain the peace and prosperity of all men, these laws ought to be based on truth that is unchanging. Thus, for a community to experience the greatest potential for well-being and prosperity, we must advocate for our government’s foundational principles to align with godly values and biblical law.