RELIGIONS AND LAW
Keywords:
Religions, Law, Hinduism, Dharma, Buddhism, Tradition, Divine Precepts, Hebrew, Shariah, Islam, Greek, Deification of Wisdom, Roman Law, Christian Law, People of GodAbstract
Religion is too complex a human phenomenon to' be defined as religious experience .or faith. It'embraces' the whole human existence, interior and exterior, individual and social. Besides the individual 'factors of personal experience, faith, commitment to' intellectual search into matters of faith, and openness to personal growth in 'knowledge and understanding of faith', religions also include social variables like credal assent and personal commitment to the communitarian faith, participation in congregational activities, personal ties within the congregation, and especially the ordering of one's individual and' social life according to the principles of the particular religion.' This implies, on the part of the religion concerned, a right and responsibility to provide explicit and specific regulations to organize effectively these+different social variables into a closely-knit and intimately co-operating community of believers. This means the lawmaking function. of religion. But the nature and function of the-laws' in different religious traditions depended ·to a great extent on the way in which the different variables were perceived by each tradition. Besides, since historically religions
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