Our laws are a reflection of our culture. Our culture does not condone the torture of innocent and defenseless creatures. And we as a society believe all God's creatures should be treated humanely.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Because animals are property, we consider as 'humane treatment' that we would regard as torture if it were inflicted on humans.
People are, well, only human. We know that. The rule of law is borne out in identifying, condemning, and punishing those who violate the standards on which we all agree. This is exactly what we do in America.
In civilized life, law floats in a sea of ethics.
The Catholic teaching against murder, for example, is largely the same as our secular laws. But as a law, it obviously has a secular rationale at least as strong as its religious rationale.
Judges must beware of hard constructions and strained inferences, for there is no worse torture than that of laws.
And these things are pretty much foundational: thou shall not kill, steal, bear false witness. All these things are embedded into the laws we enjoy in our nation.
Our laws must protect victims.
Wherever there is a settled society, religion is necessary; the laws cover manifest crimes, and religion covers secret crimes.
There is a barbarism in the American soul, and we must protect some of it by law. To root it out is to endanger our lives on the one hand, and our liberty on the other.
In a civilized society, all crimes are likely to be sins, but most sins are not and ought not to be treated as crimes. Man's ultimate responsibility is to God alone.
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