According to my understanding, the modern judicial system in stable democracies is ultimately based upon an ancient Greek concept formulated around 500 BCE, essentially that there are two sides to every story. Justice is rendered through using not just testimony, but also forensic evidence, and establishment of motive. Sentencing usually takes any past convictions into account.
According to religious fundamentalism, there is but one inerrant truth not subject to interpretation from any unauthorized personnel. The literal reading of the appropriate text is the sole determinant of truth and therefore justice.
It has recently been asserted that any religiously certified testimony concerning the past that is in agreement with the belief system of a consensus of fundamentalist authorities is the sole determinant of truth, that all physical evidence, undesirable testimony, and establishment of motive should automatically be discarded.
My understanding is that much of the world, even today, does not have a Western concept of justice, that there is the official version of the truth and there is the defendant who must prove their innocence to the religious and/or governmental authorities that are the representatives of the truth.
The idea of justice in Western civilization, which predates Christianity, depends upon a system where the truth is discovered rather than indisputably asserted, where different individuals regardless of identifiable characteristics are supposed to be equal before the law.
I believe the idea of using evidence, reason, and logic to discover the truth is what is done by non-fundamentalists both within and without the justice system. I believe that fundamentalism means the truth is already assumed, and that evidence, reason, and logic are considered acts of hubris, that the truth is an act of faith that is indisputable.
Since under such circumstances, the difference between revealed and discovered truth is a basic philosophy that seperates the fundamentalist from the rest of humanity, would this have an impact beyond science, education, and economics?
Do religious fundamentalists seek to change the Western concept of justice with one more compatible with a belief in revealed, rather than discovered truth?
Please disregard if previously covered. As usual, have no idea where this belongs.
™ Version 4.2