In law school students are taught that laws must be free from moral, spiritual and religious principles. Students who go to temples and churches, read the Bible or the Gita, do yoga, practice vegetarianism, do seva in Gurdwaras etc are seen as "uncool". The leftist/communist negation of religion is seen as correct. Practices that violate moral tenets, such as one-night stands and hook-ups, are seen as perfectly acceptable. In legal practice, lawyers divorce law from spirituality and morals. It is seen as fine to defend rapists and murderers, and earn money from that. Ram Jethmalani claimed that a tall Sikh man shot Jessica Lall, but he is celebrated as a great lawyer.
I'm just wondering whether it's time to reconsider the neglect of moral and spiritual principles in our lives? Has modern liberalism and atheism ultimately led to a societal decay?
Legal practise, like any other profession, is dominated by greed. What has been shown in Jolly LLB is largely correct. But, a good chunk of professionals have been practicing law with morality and ethics.
You cannot really force people to become spiritual. The only important question is, "Am I spiritual / moral?"
If the answer is yes, you do not have to worry much. Just ensure that you raise successors in the profession who could uphold morality and spirituality.
The thing about subverting spirituality and morality was to find a way to manage diversity with its demands going in divergent directions. To adopt a moral standpoint would then be to end up including some and excluding some - something which the modern state wanted to avoid in order to find legitimacy for its creation and superiority over the king-nation-kingdom types of governance which required the adhesive of local morality to bind its peoples into a single political unit.
The need to keep morality away is required, but when you are thinking in terms of administration and the state - of which law is an important part. So the law requires one to keep one's morality outside.
The unfortunate thing to happen is that people assumed that morality has to be thrown out from one's life also. The necessary compulsions for the state have been ignorantly and blindly adopted as a necessary compulsion for the citizen.
I can be moralistic about my choices depending on the quality of life I define for myself. But I cannot be moralistic about the law which governs everyone.
So let's say I won't indulge in consuming drugs or visiting prostitutes, but that does and should not stop me from taking up cases to defend someone accused of peddling drugs or pimping.
However, what has happened is that ignorant fools have taken the state's mandates and made those their private commandments.
You will find the answers to this if you focus on your classes, lol.
As if there's an objective "moral" standard. Or making sure state has sufficient evidence to convict someone - beyond reasonable doubt - is 'wrong'. These things are not decay of society, these things are what cause the society to progress.
Agreed 1000%. Nothing confirmed this more than hearing about an SA in a Tier 1 firm I used to know, throw away her marriage and career due to a random fling she had with a junior in her team (we all knew this is not the first instance for her).
We have strayed far as a society, even considering the rich liberal tradition that Hinduism has always had (we were not always a drab and prudish society until the previous millenia of rule of this country by cultures with miserable prudish outlooks).
Regardless, the absolute delusion that has swept young minds today is incredible, and no matter what religion you turn to, there is an answer for a better way of living, and for practising a truthful way of living. And for those of us who are religious or spiritual (whatever that is), we should strive to be so more vocally and unabashedly at the least, and I am sure that atleast some of the misguided youth will change their mind.
I'm just wondering whether it's time to reconsider the neglect of moral and spiritual principles in our lives? Has modern liberalism and atheism ultimately led to a societal decay?
You cannot really force people to become spiritual. The only important question is, "Am I spiritual / moral?"
If the answer is yes, you do not have to worry much. Just ensure that you raise successors in the profession who could uphold morality and spirituality.
The need to keep morality away is required, but when you are thinking in terms of administration and the state - of which law is an important part. So the law requires one to keep one's morality outside.
The unfortunate thing to happen is that people assumed that morality has to be thrown out from one's life also. The necessary compulsions for the state have been ignorantly and blindly adopted as a necessary compulsion for the citizen.
I can be moralistic about my choices depending on the quality of life I define for myself. But I cannot be moralistic about the law which governs everyone.
So let's say I won't indulge in consuming drugs or visiting prostitutes, but that does and should not stop me from taking up cases to defend someone accused of peddling drugs or pimping.
However, what has happened is that ignorant fools have taken the state's mandates and made those their private commandments.
As if there's an objective "moral" standard. Or making sure state has sufficient evidence to convict someone - beyond reasonable doubt - is 'wrong'. These things are not decay of society, these things are what cause the society to progress.
We have strayed far as a society, even considering the rich liberal tradition that Hinduism has always had (we were not always a drab and prudish society until the previous millenia of rule of this country by cultures with miserable prudish outlooks).
Regardless, the absolute delusion that has swept young minds today is incredible, and no matter what religion you turn to, there is an answer for a better way of living, and for practising a truthful way of living. And for those of us who are religious or spiritual (whatever that is), we should strive to be so more vocally and unabashedly at the least, and I am sure that atleast some of the misguided youth will change their mind.