Law is an odd thing. On 15 February, thousands of frozen embryosAn unborn or unhatched offspring in the process of development. kept by fertility clinics in AlabamaA state in the southern USA. It had one of the largest slave populations before the Civil War, and afterwards, it imposed harsh Jim Crow laws to disenfranchise Black Americans. were seen as no more than little clusters of cells. On 16 February, they became children in the eyes of the law.

That day's decision by the Supreme Court of Alabama might make IVFIn vitro fertilisation is a technique used to help people with fertility issues have a baby., a second chance for couples that cannot have children, impossible in the state.

Generally, for IVF treatment, doctors extract and fertiliseJoin an egg with male reproductive material to cause new life to grow. as many eggs as they can from the mother, but they only implant one back in her uterusThe organ in which a foetus (unborn baby) develops. Also known as the womb. . The rest are destroyed. But under this new ruling, that could be considered murder.

The Chief Justice of the court justified the decision by arguing Alabama has a "theologically-based view of the sanctity of life".¹

That has drawn condemnation from critics who believe laws in modern states should be strictly secularA word used to describe something that is not connected with the religious or spiritual sphere.. But others say theologyThe study of religious beliefs. has always had an important role in law.

Only a few countries around the world today are true theocraciesCountries that are ruled by religious leaders. , where religious leaders make laws based on theological precepts.

One is the VaticanWhere the Pope lives in Italy., where the legal system derives from canon lawLaws made within Christian churches to govern how the Church is run. .² Another is AfghanistanA mountainous Asian country, slightly larger than France, whose neighbours include Pakistan, Iran and China. under the TalibanA violent fundamentalist Islamic movement that enforces sharia law and denies education to women., which imposes its own strict interpretation of Sharia lawA legal system based on Islamic teaching. Gay Afghans and Afghan women say the Taliban's strict reading of Sharia is not compatible with their human rights..³

But some argue that many other more secular countries also have laws whose roots are in theology.

Some scholars believe that the idea that all human beings are made in God's image has been an important influence on our legal systems.

And, they argue, the idea that we all have a fundamental human dignity that protects us from torture and other mistreatment ultimately comes from religion.⁴

In the UK, Church leaders even have a small role in passing legislation. Traditionally, up to 26 of the country's bishops sit in the House of LordsIn the UK, the upper chamber of the UK Parliament. It is made up of hereditary peers, the Lords Spiritual (bishops) and life peers. .⁵

Others say this is an oversimplification. Although the influence of Christianity in our culture is huge, our laws do not generally come from its theology.

Even at the height of Christianity in Europe, scholars agreed that civil lawThe legal system that involves disputes between individuals, private companies or private organisations - as opposed to criminal law. , promulgated by states, was separate from canon lawLaws made within Christian churches to govern how the Church is run. , which regulated the affairs of the Church. Civil law mostly came from ancient Roman legal practices, not from Christianity.

Although some judges in the past have found Christianity to be part of the law of the land, this idea is now universally rejected amongst British judges.⁶

Yes: Theology is part and parcel of our culture. It affects how we think about moral right and wrong at every level. It is impossible to exclude it from our thinking about law.

No: In a modern, liberal, multicultural and secular democracy, theology has no place in law. We cannot let a small number of fanatical religionists set the law for the vast majority of us.

Or... Theology is not really at issue here. Christian theology has nothing to say about whether or not an embryo is a child. It is simply being used as ammunition in a very modern political fight.