Before I accepted the truth of Christ, I was pretty picky with my Christian friends. If they sinned in the smallest way I was right there behind them quietly nagging them and proudly sitting justified in my refusal to accept Christ because what the hell kind of God would let his followers say/do such things and would I ever waste my time with all that Christian nonsense if I didn’t actually have to be a good person? I didn’t get it, and neither do a lot of Christians these days, but you know, legalism isn’t limited to Christians. Legalism is rampant in the world of web standards today too.

Legalism in faith and in design

I’ve heard quite a few people, prominent people, refer to Jeffrey Zeldman’s Designing with Web Standards (the “second edition](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321385551/indianajost-20?creative=0&camp=0&adid=1YDNHPRYAEFFPDB5G1PK&link_code=as1 is out by the way) as the web design bible, and now we have little generals running around pointing out our failures in adhering to this ‘bible’ like we’re not going to go to web design heaven if we keep pushing ‘bad’ code.

Legalism, for those unfamiliar with the term, is a mindset that determines the law to be more important than anything else. In Christianity this means a person is a legalist who pushes another to obey every law and discredits the fact that faith in Jesus’ sacrifice is what saves us. Similarly, in web design, a standards legalist pushes ‘right’ code above the overall design. The legalist says that the rules should be obeyed strictly and whatever purpose you may have had in ‘breaking’ a rule or two is not worth the horror of having broken the standards law. They’ll say that at all costs one should find a way around breaking that rule, no matter how small or irrelevant.

On both sides, both kinds of legalists are missing something from the big picture. In fact, they’re not even facing the big picture to notice what it is that’s missing. For Christian legalists it’s mercy and understanding that are missing. For the standards legalist the missing pieces come in the form of creativity and pragmatism. One of the best articles I’ve read about legalism says this:

“But legality is one of the favorite weapons of the enemy. He loves to get Christians to be legalistic, for then he has destroyed their enjoyment of the Spirit and he can use them to spread havoc among a generation or a company of believers, and ruin a vital, active, and growing Christian group.” “Ray C. Stedman](http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/misc/legal.html/

Have you heard of the Pharisees? The Pharisees were legalists in Jesus’ day. In fact, Jesus’ most negative teaching is aimed at this crowd as he says of them, “They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for men to see.” “Matt23](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2023&version=31/ If you read the rest of the chapter, you see just how nasty Jesus was capable of being when the cause was just. He didn’t hold much back, and even in our meager translations we have today it’s clear to see what he feels about legalists, calling them “whitewashed tombs” and “a brood of vipers”.

Legalism itself is the enemy, not the law

Stedman explains the dilemma we have today: There is a law, if you like, a code, to which we are expected to conform. Many Christians make the mistake of thinking that to be free from legalism you must become free from any law whatsoever.” “Stedman](http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/misc/legal.html/ With web standards, there is a law, a code to abide by, and we all try to do that, but there is a bigger picture. We recognize there are rules, that standards means something. It’s not just a pretty covering we put on to look like a good designer. Web standards are a beautiful thing when followed in the right way. The great designers who’ve pioneered the standards ‘revolution’ these last few years have become great designers by following those rules and there’s no arguing that.

Just as well, there are some ‘laws’ of standards that really should be followed, like separating markup, behavior and styles. But even Zeldman, in Chapter 8 of his ‘bible’ talks about hybrid layouts, allowing for the use of tables in layout under specific circumstances, understanding that not everyone can adhere strictly to these new rules he’s talking about. What?!*&^? That’s madness, you say? That’s mercy, is what that is. And if you don’t have it, you’re a legalist.

The effects of legalism

The primary effect of legalism is the tearing down of the spirit, either the Christian’s spirit or the designers enthusiasm for his work. When you comment or email someone to tell them about how their choice of markup isn’t very ’standards-friendly’ when it bends a very small rule, you have the potential to drive that person away from their craft in the same way a legalist ‘Christian’ (note the quote marks) can drive a good Christian from their faith, thinking they can’t do anything right.

Legalists are like the nerd in school who always went and told the teacher how you were in the door 12 seconds after the bell. Or they’re the HR assistant who harps on you for that pen you took home yesterday on accident. Technically you’re breaking ‘the law’ and we all get that, but one was a small mistake and the other is probably something that happened with good reason. But, because of hr guy and nerd guy you’re wondering what made you think you were a good person all this time. According to the legalist, you have no right to call yourself a good person if you break the law, no matter how minor the infraction. In standards this translates to your quality as a designer. The legalist will question your right o be called a “standardista](http://muffinresearch.co.uk/archives/2005/10/31/become-a-better-standardista/ because you used an extra div where it wasn’t needed.

How to keep from being a legalist

I love what “Molly](http://molly.com says about this. In her post called “How to Sniff Out a Rotten Standardista](http://www.molly.com/2006/02/23/how-to-sniff-out-a-rotten-standardista/, she describes the good standardista who gets it:

“We must keep the visionary aspects of the Web intact via interoperability, platform and device independence, global access and accessibility to all. We must also know the history that brought us to the movement and the reasons and benefits as to why Web standards advocacy is critical to the solid growth of the World Wide Web.” “How to Sniff Out a Rotten Standardista](http://www.molly.com/2006/02/23/how-to-sniff-out-a-rotten-standardista/

The point of web standards is about something bigger than following rules. If it were not, it would never have been so successful. The same is true of the Christian faith. There’s something bigger there than a book of laws, despite the importance of those laws. When you fail to see the bigger picture, you’re turpentine, slowly eating away at a beautiful work of art. Get a firm grasp of that big picture, both in faith and in design, before you start spreading legalism.

Related Links

• “How to Sniff Out a Rotten Standardista](http://www.molly.com/2006/02/23/how-to-sniff-out-a-rotten-standardista/
• “Become a Better Standardista](http://muffinresearch.co.uk/archives/2005/10/31/become-a-better-standardista/
• “Legalism](http://www.pbc.org/dp/stedman/misc/legal.html
• “Matthew 23](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt%2023&version=31
• “Ray C. Stedman](http://www.pbc.org/ray
• ” Legalism: Does It Lead to True Righteousness?](http://pastors.crossmap.com/article/legalism-does-it-lead-to-true-righteousness/item46.htm
• “Legalism, Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legalism_(theology)/