God Arises
Religion and Society
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academically sound, have been abandoned simply
because people did not want them. Alcohol, for
instance, was prohibited for some time in the U.S.A,
but this law was eventually repealed because of
public pressure. The death sentence in Britain was
commuted for similar reasons, and homosexuality
has had to be legalized despite opposition from
judges and other responsible members of society,
who recognized it for the evil it was.
Gustav Radburch (1878-1949) observes that the
desired law can only be adopted by concession, and
not for the reason that it is ‘scientifically known’.
Radburch’s views are not an exception, and on this
basis a permanent school of thought had come into
existence known as the Relative School of Thought,
according to which, “absolute judgements about
law are not discoverable.” What the law seeks
relates directly to human values, and that is
precisely where the human intellect has failed to
find a universal solution. Yet man’s instincts about
right and wrong are so strong that neither the
mechanical philosophy of the eighteenth century
nor the utilitarian Russian system could destroy
them. They are so deeply rooted in human nature,
