re: #24 Walter L. Newton

Er… because the foundation of our many of the west’s moral codes are based on Judeo-Christian moral codes, even when transfered to a secular society. It’s a cultural heritage of most of our founding fathers In turn, the foundations of those codes can be found in even more ancient codes like Hammurabi. Thier “their 18th century, bass-ackwards morals” were a cultural and political reality that help form the moral codes that we recognize as law.

And as a more enlightened and culturally aware society we are doing our best to get rid of those dumb and dumber moral values that have been obsolete for centuries.