On (13 Nov 05) LEE LOFASO wrote to GEORGE POPE...
 LL> GP>Except our views of democracy and a justice system originated in
 LL> that Bible!
 LL>
 LL> Democracy is a late seventeenth century, early eighteenth century
 LL> idea.
 LL> The Bible says nothing about democracy.  However, the Bible does have
 LL> lots to say about kings and tyrants and soldiers.

Moses' father-in-law helped establish a system whereby neighbourhoods
would elect a representative, and larger groupings(eg. City-level) would
likewise have a rep, and larger groupings(a la counties),and larger(a la
states/provinces, and a national leader that is ratified by the people.)

Issues are to be dealt with at the lowest level first, with appeal
procedures up to the highest.

 LL> GP>(some claim Hammurabi's Code as the oldest justice code, but
 LL> Hammurabi's
 LL> GP>specifically encsconced class differences, which is not what true
 LL> justice is
 LL> GP>about!)
 LL>
 LL> When one reads the Bible, one should be in search of religious truth.
 LL> Taking religious truth as political truth or scientific truth or any
 LL> other kind of truth would be to make a mockery of God.

The Bible contains all the above -- it's important to separate each from
each other.

The Bible is documentation of God's interactions with a particular group
of people.

These interactions included aspects of politics, religion, and science
-- to say that every part agrees with every other aspect (eg. to say
that Genesis is intended as a scientific treatise on the origins of man)
is patently erroneous.

The main political/legal issues put forth is that:
1) the slave has equal basic human rights to anyone else
2) the king is beholden to the basic laws as anyone else

Only the Bible has ever specifically stated this -- no nation since has
ever effectively ensconced these two points as rule of law.

Because I care,
<+]::-{)}  (Cyberpope(the Bishop of ROM!))


--- PPoint 1.76