I want to make a brief point here using this well-known and over-exposed
case of Casey Anthony. Lets say, for arguments sake, Casey Anthony did, as well all suspect she did, kill her child or, at the very least, participate in the murder of her child. The country's outrage is immense. We can make lots of complaint about how you rarely see a minority child's murder being treated like this (
this one outraged me far more than the Anthony case)or about how the interest in this case was fueled by heartless, self-interested opportunists like Nancy Grace, but we really are outraged. There's nothing that screams injustice to us more than the slaughter of an innocent, defenseless child at the hands of the one person who was supposed to protect her. We as a society value the family quite highly.
Now, Ms. Anthony is being brought back to Orlando in relation to a check fraud case. To you and I, this is a minor legal slight, especially in contrast to the murder of a small child. However, there are many religious ideas out there stating that, to God, all sins are equal. Indeed, the people defending this idea, that all sins are equal, and it's not a majority of Christians or Muslims saying this, but those who do advocate that position have an easier time proving their case through scripture than those who say some sins are more heinous than others.
Just look at the Ten Commandments for an example. Anthony, assuming she is guilty of both crimes, is guilty of breaking two commandments: One being the sixth commandment (No Killing) and one being the eighth commandment (false witness). And I guess a case could be made for the idea that in bearing false witness, writing a bad check, she, in effect, stole, so that would be the seventh commandment broken as well.
In the second violation she broke two commandments. Why is society more upset with her for breaking one commandment in the first violation? Why are we not really concerned about a false check, at least not on a national level, the way we're concerned with a murder?
Could it be that there's an aspect of humanity that has a greater system of morality in place than the one handed up to us from unrefined ancient cultures?