This came up during the Huckabee theocracy thread, but there seemed to be room for discussion & I thought it was worth a thread all its own. The modifier Judeo-Christian is often attached to our legal system, but why? Is it because it is based on Biblical principles or just that it developed in countries which were predominately Christian? Or perhaps a combination of the two as the dominant religion surely would have some influence on growing systems of morality, ethics, & law.

I'm inclined to go with the second option when looking at the overall system. There's no doubt that some laws are Biblicly inspired but overall it looks like Judaism & Christianity were at most indirect influences. I'm interested to hear what others think.

Up until Vietnam, Korea .... and recently Iraq, Kosovo, Somalia ...... we were a country that operated on the "Just War Theory" which is Judeo-Christian. However, the morons in office for the last few decades have thrown that one away.