I only spoke of "Common Law" and its relation to the values of the "people" (i.e. Do onto others...) at that time. The failure of your logic here sir is that during this time in history you cannot separate the "church" from the "state". That did not occur until the "Enlightenment era" of which our forefathers were clearly a part of. I believe you may be misplacing blame as I hear that from many a bigot
the separation of the church from the state only happened in the "enlightenment" in YOUR society.
other societies were always far less dependent on religious persecution to enforce social conduct.
Rome's official state religion had absolutely no bearing on the state's business or the day to day lives of it's people save the occasional public offering to appease the gods. other religious groups were not oppressed, hindered or otherwise molested, in fact rome was noted for adding to their state religion and god who tickled their fancy.
celtic religion had no authority over the non-believers, and there was no punishment for being a mithrian, or an worshiper of aopollo or even of set.
thor never smote anybody who was not a jotun or a svartalf.
as a non-member of what you erroneously seem to consider a state religion here in the usa i have to wonder why am i free to indulge in any of the practices of my faith despite the fact that christianity has prohibited these practices since the popes ruled only rome.
i can feel free to read from, and even quote from books that would have had me burnt at the stake a mere 300 years ago.
your "enlightenment" age was more a "reduction of fanaticism age" thats why the "enlightenment" draws so heavily from roman and greek sources to find their "new awesome way to be less of a dick to those who hold differing views age"
/rant.
i gotta say christians are lots better than they used to be. who knows maybe in 400 years even mohammedans might start acting as civilized as the greeks were 4000 years ago.
