The passing
of new bills can shock an entire nation or even the whole world if it proves to
be controversial, and what the world dubs as “controversial” is something that
oppresses a value held by the common person. The common thought in society is
called culture, its rituals the public will consider as tradition and these
practices are passed on to generations who accept it.
Culture closely
ties itself to the laws created by a country. In the Middle East, Islamic law
and the law of the land are the same. In the case of an Afghan man granted asylum by Britain to avoid a death sentence on his return to Afghanistan for
abandoning his faith, is a sign that tradition and religion indeed overwhelms
the local government.
While many atheists
and humanists may argue that religion is only a belief and the state is an
entity that has a paradox in protecting the individual but respects the choice
of the majority through democracy, tradition is a mass societal movement and
thought and if religion is embedded, the state cannot remove itself from such.
The
involvement of culture, religion and tradition makes it difficult for
individualistic ideas and understanding to be protected by law. Sadly,
regardless of an ideal society splitting law and religion, the reality is that tradition
declares the law, and tradition includes religion. Unless people are willing to
lay down their religion into schools of thought as is philosophy or other
beliefs, then the future of the world will continue to root itself in its tradition.
