The rules if youre not religious. Discuss Essay Example for Free

The rules if youre not religious. Discuss Essay In this democratic age we vote in those people (or party) who we want to rule our country and in turn create our laws. However this is a very old system, which some could argue takes its basis from the 10 Commandments from the Old Testament. If this is the case, in a growing atheistic state, why should you follow the rules if you are not religious, for which the 10 Commandments were designed for? In London, it is illegal to flag down a taxi if you have the plague. This law has an obvious provenance; during the Black Death, in order to prevent the spread of the disease. However nowadays, this previously appropriate law is out of date and obsolete. How can something created thousands of years ago still be relevant to modern life? A more secular set of laws would be more appropriate and representative to govern the people. The 10 Commandments are very inflexible; they don’t take into account the situation and are inexorable. For instance, there are some cases when you should lie i. e. for the greater good. However in this narrow and oppressive set of laws, this is never allowed, which is against our autonomy. The 10 Commandments do not mention any form of punishment, for religious people they wouldn’t need any deterrence, just the idea of serving God and going to Heaven. So in effect, the actual punishment for each of these crimes has been created by man, and therefore a crime which God thought was insignificant, could hold a serious punishment. There is also the need for a system to decide and enforce this system. This set of laws is designed for those who are religious, but with people who hold different views, they are going to disagree with them. You also need lots of laws to avoid loop-holes as these laws are very general. However, in spite of a large proportion of people are not religious, they will still hold similar ideals to those who are; good and bad, right and wrong. The Ten Commandments are a universal set of rules which show indisputable and clear criteria for right and wrong. Aside from laws, they cover morality as well: â€Å"Honour your father and your mother† and â€Å"You shall not covet you neighbour’s hut†. These views should be inherent in everybody as they lead to a good upbringing and moral understanding. We need rules as it is unrealistic to expect people to do the right thing. For example, to try and prevent speeding, speed cameras were introduced. But now people speed as they used to, but slow down just to pass the camera. Our system of laws has changed and diversified over many years. This means that even if these original Commandments were used to base new laws on, they will have changed and been tweaked over the years. Also any inherently good person (even if they’re not religious) would want to have religious ideals as they lead to a good and fulfilling life. In conclusion, it is necessary to follow the rules even if you’re not religious, for nowadays they are not as heavily based on religion, but still hold good, moral and relevant views.