“People think killing is bad” is one of the many reasons to think that “killing is bad”. Other reasons might include “people die if they are killed”, “I don’t want to get killed”, “I don’t want my loved ones to get killed”, “I don’t want to get traumatized by killing”, “I don’t want to traumatized by witnessing murder” and so on and so forth. Lots of reasons to dislike murder. And we usually see dislike of murder developing naturally and independently in various cultures around the world. Sometimes it’s only extended to people within a group, but it is invariably there. If we need God for that principle, how is that possible?
Or let’s look from slightly different perspective. The 10th commandment states “thou shalt not kill”. It’s simple and strong, all murder is bad.
But do you really think all murder is always morally indefensible? I don’t know your position on any topic, so it’s hard for me to guess. But you would probably agree that someone who killed by accident is not as evil as serial killer. I’d expect you feel more pity towards that person than resentment, even if by law he ends up in prison. It’s even harder if you get attacked and end up killing your attacker in self-defense. In some countries you will get jailed for that, but not in others. People in general usually support defending side here, even in countries where it almost always ends with prison sentence. Speaking about law, what about capital punishment? It’s controversial, sure, but it used to be much more normal before morals became essentially secular. Talking about controversies, it’s even harder in cases of euthanasia and abortion. These are hard moral topics, and I’m not sure simple answer offered by religion holds up here either, considering all other exceptions. Or what about war? Soldiers do kill, but you will look really hard to find religious figure denouncing soldiers that fight on their side. All of this does not fit into simple framework outlined by “thou shalt not kill” commandment, does it?
And that’s killing we are talking about. I too on a gut level feel that it’s bad, I want to live in a world without killing, but the world we live in is much more complicated. It’s usually even harder when we talk about problems where, uhm, it’s not about people getting killed. Because it’s easy to agree that killing is bad (until I show up with controversial list of exceptions), but some other norms might not be quite as intuitive.
“People think killing is bad” is one of the many reasons to think that “killing is bad”. Other reasons might include “people die if they are killed”, “I don’t want to get killed”, “I don’t want my loved ones to get killed”, “I don’t want to get traumatized by killing”, “I don’t want to traumatized by witnessing murder” and so on and so forth.
Lots of reasons to dislike murder. And we usually see dislike of murder developing naturally and independently in various cultures around the world. Sometimes it’s only extended to people within a group, but it is invariably there.
If we need God for that principle, how is that possible?
Or let’s look from slightly different perspective.
The 10th commandment states “thou shalt not kill”. It’s simple and strong, all murder is bad.
But do you really think all murder is always morally indefensible?
I don’t know your position on any topic, so it’s hard for me to guess.
But you would probably agree that someone who killed by accident is not as evil as serial killer. I’d expect you feel more pity towards that person than resentment, even if by law he ends up in prison.
It’s even harder if you get attacked and end up killing your attacker in self-defense. In some countries you will get jailed for that, but not in others. People in general usually support defending side here, even in countries where it almost always ends with prison sentence.
Speaking about law, what about capital punishment? It’s controversial, sure, but it used to be much more normal before morals became essentially secular.
Talking about controversies, it’s even harder in cases of euthanasia and abortion. These are hard moral topics, and I’m not sure simple answer offered by religion holds up here either, considering all other exceptions.
Or what about war? Soldiers do kill, but you will look really hard to find religious figure denouncing soldiers that fight on their side.
All of this does not fit into simple framework outlined by “thou shalt not kill” commandment, does it?
And that’s killing we are talking about. I too on a gut level feel that it’s bad, I want to live in a world without killing, but the world we live in is much more complicated.
It’s usually even harder when we talk about problems where, uhm, it’s not about people getting killed. Because it’s easy to agree that killing is bad (until I show up with controversial list of exceptions), but some other norms might not be quite as intuitive.