The Law as Teacher

If you haven't been following this story Arkansas football coach Bobby Petrino has been embroiled in scandal that began when he got into a motorcycle accident last week.  At the time, he reported that he was only one on the bike when he wrecked it.  It was later found out that Petrino, who is married and has four children, was not the only one on his motorcycle at the time; a woman of 25 years old with whom he also had an "inappropriate relationship" was on the bike as well.  Things were further complicated when it was revealed that she was recently hired on to serve as a fundraising coordinator for the Razorback Foundation.  News just minutes ago broke that Petrino will be terminated, which, to the dismay of Arkansas football fans everywhere, is a just action.

I lay out the above to frame what I heard this morning on Mike and Mike while driving to work.  As typical when scandals like this break, it was asserted over and over again by all parties on the show that what is morally reprehensible is not always against the law.  Very true as far as that goes.  But what then is the law based on?  Hypothetically, what if there was no law against murder?  What about Jim Crow laws?  Would we will still assert that same standard about the supposed separation of law and morality then?  Or does the law point to something deeper, something that extends from rights and wrongs that are discoverable from human reason, in which wrongs committed are not only wrong for one single person but wrong for anyone?  This standard, the natural law standard on which this country is philosophically based, is what desperately needs to be recovered in the public square.