Are there any parallels between the cultural debate today and that of the late 1700s? Join Michael Farris and Dr. Robert Stacey as they examine this question on today's Home School Heartbeat.
Mike Farris:
Bob, we've spent this week talking about a British scholar and lawmaker who died in 1780, Sir William Blackstone. What can we learn from Blackstone's Commentaries that are influential in understanding our current cultural debate?
Dr. Robert Stacey:
In our day, there are cultural forces, I think, out there that are bent on stripping away the Bible's influence and secularizing our public square. Blackstone lived at a time of cultural conflict in many ways quite similar to our own. His response to the secularizers and humanists of his day, I think, can inform our response to those who would again make man the measure of all things in our own day.
Mike:
Bob, this summer the United States Supreme Court ruled in a case involving the rights of homosexuals that morality alone was not a constitutional basis for legislation. What would Blackstone have to say to that?
Dr. Stacey:
He'd say quite the contrary. The only legitimate foundation for law is morality—a morality rooted in God's will and God's law as expressed in his creation and, more importantly, in his written Word, the Scriptures.
Mike:
What would the writers and ratifiers of the Constitution say? Are they on Blackstone's side or are they on the Supreme Court of today's side?
Dr. Stacey:
I think they are very much common-law thinkers just like Blackstone was. You know, they read their Blackstone, and they knew, too, that God's law is the justification for all right human law.
Mike:
Bob, thank you so much for your contribution to the study of our national heritage through this important man, William Blackstone. I'm Mike Farris.
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