Decoding Conduct

Published on 3rd October, 2015, in the Economic Times. God gave Moses a set of commandments to give to his chosen people. These were set in stone, meaning they were non-negotiable. Yet, the Bible is full of stories of non-compliance. For example, there is the commandment: ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ yet King David has an affair with his commander’s wife, angering God. There is the commandment: ‘Thou shalt not kill’ yet Judaic, Christian and Islamic history is full of violence. Besides God’s commandments, every religion based on Abrahamic mythology has elaborate sets of codes of conduct. There is the Talmud, which compiles laws of ..