[x-factor]

Originally Posted by GratefulCitizen

Can you cite where the Savior rescinded capital punishment for murder?

Romans 12:19-21 "Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord..."

The Catholic Church and others use this verse, among others, as an argument against capital punishment.

I would argue that both the Ten Commandments and Christ's summation advocate separation of church and state.

I'd agree, among other verses.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by this.
The Torah is normally considered to be canon.

The Torah is both a history book and a sacred text. Mosaic Law is part of the former, the Ten Commandments are part of the latter.

For example, the prohibition against murder in the Ten Commandments is a sacred thing because life is God's creation and to destroy it wantonly is to spit in His face. This is a fundamental fact of existence, a self-evident truth to borrow the phrase.

On the other hand, the prohibition against eating pork in Mosaic law is a secular thing specific to that group of people at that point in time. God does not hate pigs and not eating them has no metaphysical basis. The Hebrews of Moses' time were prohibited from eating pigs for public health purposes in order to preserve the well-being of the Chosen people in a very harsh and dangerous period. Thats why the New Testament lets Gentiles off the hook on Mosaic law. It was an ancillary tradition, not a God-ordained truth.

There is probably a great deal of tribal law mixed in where Sharia Law is practiced.

There is. And one of the many reasons I did not convert to Islam while studying it is that I believe much of what Mohammed calls the Word of God was simply him codifying and tweaking the petty tribal practices of 6th century Arabia. This included him borrowing and adapting a fair bit of Judaism, including Mosaic law, which he must have learned about during his merchant voyages and interactions with the Jews of Arabia.

Furthermore, systems rooted in English Common Law are quite distinct from those rooted in Roman Law.
Compare the USA and Canada to our various neighbors to the south.

Spanish law and Roman law are too entirely different things. When I say Roman Law, I'm talking about pre-Christian civilization.

I would argue that the founding fathers inferred from the Bible that humans will tend toward corruption, selfishness, and oppression.

Therefore, they instituted a system of checks and balances to counter that tendency.

The corruptible nature of man is not unique to Biblical philosophy. Far from it. The founding fathers drew inspiration from all sorts of traditions.