{"id":7424,"date":"2023-06-18T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-18T10:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/?p=7424"},"modified":"2025-11-13T14:48:25","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T20:48:25","slug":"124-inventing-god-and-law-a-funny-thing-about-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/?p=7424","title":{"rendered":"124. Inventing God and Law: A Funny Thing About Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"When<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/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

124. Inventing God and Law: A Funny Thing About Faith<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

TITLE: Part R: A Funny Thing about Faith<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panel 1: An elderly woman in middle-eastern garb, with a hooded robe and a jeweled and embroidered headband, taps one finger to the side of her head while looking knowingly at the reader. Behind her, an elderly man with a long pale beard, brown robes, and a dun cloth-covered headdress, squints at the reader.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NARRATION:<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a funny thing about faith:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

WOMAN:<\/p>\n

If your belief can be challenged,<\/strong> it can be changed.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

MAN:<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t be having with that.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

-=-<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panel 2: A giant stone tablet has been chiseled with the words, and the letters have been gilt. Below the tablet, a person addresses the reader.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NARRATION:<\/p>\n

When your world is rooted in a belief that can<\/strong> be challenged, there\u2019s one cardinal commandment:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

ENGRAVING:<\/p>\n

THOU SHALT NOT DISSENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

PERSON:<\/p>\n

If you thought monolatry<\/strong> was intolerant, you ain\u2019t seen nothing yet.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

-=-<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panel 3: A narration box, with a person below it addressing the reader.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NARRATION:<\/p>\n

Disagreement wasn\u2019t a harmless difference of opinion\u2014it felt like a very real attack.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dangerous acts<\/strong> like murder might be utterly reprehensible, but dangerous ideas<\/strong> were the most anti-social, the most evil<\/strong> thing imaginable.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

These cultural transformations had given the world thought crime<\/strong>\u2014or, if you prefer, the phenomenon of intolerant<\/u> ORTHODOXY.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

PERSON:<\/p>\n

You say that like it\u2019s a bad thing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

-=-<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panel 4: Outside the city walls of Jerusalem, three men are stoning a woman to death. The woman is on her knees, her hair soaked and dripping with blood, her hands pleading as she addresses the reader. Behind her, one man raises a giant stone to crush her, another is in the act of throwing a smaller stone, and a third holds a stone to throw at her.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NARRATION:<\/p>\n

Fighting ideas<\/strong> with violence<\/strong> felt heroic!<\/strong> By defending the orthodoxy, you defended your team, your community, and your self.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

WOMAN:<\/p>\n

HeRO<\/strong>ic?<\/p>\n

Forgive me if I disagree.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

MAN:<\/p>\n

Destroy this heretic!<\/strong><\/p>\n

And her incorrect, unapproved beliefs!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NARRATION:<\/p>\n

Thus began a long sad history of ideological, faith-based<\/strong> violence\u2026<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

-=-<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panel 5: An overhead view of people, tiny as dots. As some scatter this way and that, a large number form a ring around a single person.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NARRATION:<\/p>\n

Religious\u2026<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

VARIOUS VOICES:<\/p>\n

We must fight the infidels!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not now.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve got to stone this apostate<\/strong> to death!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

He abandoned our faith! The worst<\/strong> sin there is!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Traitor!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Viper in our own bed!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stoning lets us all participate in justice.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And it reinforces our sense that the rules are right.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Plus it\u2019s cheap\u2014rocks are everywhere!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

-=-<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panel 6: A large number of voices cover the scene with a blur of grayish greens and browns.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NARRATION:<\/p>\n

\u2026and secular.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

VARIOUS VOICES:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anybody spreads news or photos we censored, they \u201cdisappear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Make \u2018em afraid<\/strong> to speak up!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

To the gulag<\/strong> with those dissenters!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Purge<\/strong> the educated! They might think for themselves!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Line \u2018em up against the wall!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tar and feather that abolitionist!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

We support free speech, but not that<\/strong> speech!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Get the rope!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Burn \u2018em at the stake!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Get him!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Death to the opposition!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fuck \u201ccivilized discussion.\u201d They\u2019re advocating for evil!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u2019re erasing our heritage!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

You see one, you punch him!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Get her!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

These bombs will change their minds!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their views are violence! Fight back!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bring me that journalist\u2019s head.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their words are an assault! We must defend ourselves!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thou shalt not dissent!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

NARRATION:<\/p>\n

Fortunately, faith has an even stronger upside\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0<\/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-7424","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":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10595,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7424\/revisions\/10595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lawcomic.net\/guide\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}