{"id":7385,"date":"2023-06-12T19:31:02","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T23:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/?p=7385"},"modified":"2025-11-13T14:47:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:47:03","slug":"123-inventing-god-and-law-you-gotta-have-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/?p=7385","title":{"rendered":"123. Inventing God and Law: You Gotta Have Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

In cultures heavily influenced by the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, faith these days is practically synonymous with religion. It’s such an obvious and natural fact that we refer to all<\/em> world religions as “faiths.”<\/p>\n

So it can be hard to realize how bafflingly weird this development seemed to everyone else back then, during the post-exilic, Second Temple period. Strict monotheism and religious faith were totally new. And to the Persians, Greeks, Egyptians, Romans… they made no sense. <\/p>\n

Even today, this particular concept of faith\u2014a requisite belief in one’s god and in the teachings of one’s received scriptures\u2014isn’t really a thing in most other religious traditions. About half the world’s population grew up in such cultures (even factoring in Islam’s massive baby boom that’s going on).<\/p>\n

That’s mildly interesting, I guess. But again, so what? Faith is nothing more than thoughts inside people’s heads, after all. What’s this got to do with government and law?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n

Constitutional Law<\/p>\n

Part 2: \u201cWhat Were They Thinking?\u201d<\/p>\n

Digression: \u201cA History of Government in 6 Revolutions: From the Paleolithic to Philadelphia\u201d<\/p>\n

123. Inventing God and Law: You Gotta Have Faith<\/p>\n

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TITLE: Part Q: Rhetoric Becomes Reality<\/p>\n

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Panel 1: Jerusalem\u2019s \u201cSecond Temple\u201d is under construction. The edifice is tall and pale-colored, with several insets in the front face leading back to a large hole for a doorway, with steps leading up to it. The front of the building is covered in scaffolding, on which lots of people are working. Other people are working on the roof, and one holds a rope over the side. In the background, the walls surrounding the temple\u2019s plaza appear already complete. In the foreground, two elite men are talking to one another. One has an orange beard, and is dressed in blue-gray robes and a turban. The other has a dark brown beard and is dressed in red and maroon with a fez-like headdress.<\/p>\n

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NARRATION:<\/p>\n

TRUTH?<\/em><\/strong> Talk about unintended consequences.<\/p>\n

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BLUE-ROBED ELITE:<\/p>\n

When we said other gods didn\u2019t exist, that was all hyperbole<\/strong>, to make a point.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The point was, there was no<\/strong> point in worshipping other gods.<\/p>\n

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Nobody was supposed to take it literally.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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RED-ROBED ELITE:<\/p>\n

Only one<\/strong> god? In all<\/strong> the cosmos?<\/p>\n

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That\u2019s just silly.<\/p>\n

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NARRATION:<\/p>\n

Intended or not, monotheism was what people believed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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CONSTRUCTION WORKER:<\/p>\n

It is WRITTEN!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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-=-<\/p>\n

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Panel 2: Narration Box<\/p>\n

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NARRATION:<\/p>\n

But so what? We know that, from the first social narratives of Paleolithic bands\u2026 through the narratives of lineage, tribe, and clan\u2026 to the narratives of gods and governments\u2026 never<\/strong> had anyone cared whether you believed<\/strong> the narrative or not.<\/p>\n

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Social cohesion had never depended on what you thought<\/em>, only on what you did.<\/strong> Were you seen to cooperate and pull your own weight? Did you sacrifice like the rest of us? Did you have skin in the game?<\/p>\n

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Well, now belief mattered.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Belief suddenly mattered very much.<\/p>\n

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-=-<\/p>\n

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Panel 3: The second temple is now complete, and it\u2019s so bright that it\u2019s radiant in the daylight. The stepped-triangle crenellations around the roof are all covered in gold, as are the decorations of the molding below on the fa\u00e7ade, the capitals atop the fa\u00e7ade columns, and the recessed great doors. The two columns flanking the doors are made of pinkish-brown marble. The temple plaza\u2019s walls recede into the background. Two people are standing on the roof, two others beside the front staircase, and a third stands farther out in front of the temple to face the reader.<\/p>\n

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NARRATION:<\/p>\n

Already Yehudan society had been precariously balanced on the fragile narrative that Yahweh was their sovereign. But even then, you didn\u2019t have<\/strong> to believe that he ordained the laws. You only had to obey<\/strong> them.<\/p>\n

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Now, however, the narrative that Yahweh was the only god had become the crucial foundation of legitimacy<\/strong> for Yehud\u2019s institutions.<\/p>\n

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And the narrative that the Yehudites were the chosen people of the one god had become an inextricable, fundamental element of their social\u2014and even personal\u2014identity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Though you couldn\u2019t prove<\/strong> the narrative, everyone *BELIEVED<\/strong>* it, and that\u2019s what mattered. (Recall how narratives that fit<\/em> are easy<\/strong> to believe.)<\/p>\n

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Purely by accident, they\u2019d invented monotheism.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not all. They\u2019d also invented\u2026<\/p>\n

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FAITH.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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FOREGROUND MAN:<\/p>\n

You\u2019d better believe it!<\/p>\n

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ROOFTOP MAN 1:<\/p>\n

Remember when it seemed all you needed was a monumental construction project?<\/p>\n

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ROOFTOP MAN 2:<\/p>\n

Nope.<\/p>\n

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STAIRCASE MAN 1:<\/p>\n

What should we call this new faith?<\/p>\n

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STAIRCASE MAN 2:<\/p>\n

Yehudah-ism?<\/p>\n

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-=-<\/p>\n

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FOOTNOTE:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In cultures heavily influenced by the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, faith these days is practically synonymous with religion. It\u2019s such an obvious and natural fact that we refer to all world religions as \u201cfaiths.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So it can be hard to realize how bafflingly weird this development seemed to everyone else back then, during the post-exilic, Second Temple period. Strict monotheism and religious faith were totally new. And to the Persians, Greeks, Egyptians, Romans\u2026 they made no sense.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even today, this particular concept of faith\u2014a requisite belief in one\u2019s god and in the teachings of one\u2019s received scriptures\u2014isn\u2019t really a thing in most other religious traditions. About half the world\u2019s population grew up in such cultures (even factoring in Islam\u2019s massive baby boom that\u2019s going on).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

That\u2019s mildly interesting, I guess. But again, so what? Faith is nothing more than thoughts inside people\u2019s heads, after all. What\u2019s this got to do with government and law?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>View Transcript<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

. In cultures heavily influenced by the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, faith these days is practically synonymous with religion. It’s such an obvious and natural fact that we refer to all world religions as “faiths.” So it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48,35,63,60,1,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-brief-history-of-government","category-constitutional-law","category-inventing-the-law","category-the-institution-revolution","category-uncategorized","category-what-were-they-thinking"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t