The Hebrews were certainly not the first or last group to
advance such a common sense admonishment against the taking of
human life; almost every social structure has copped to the idea in
theory, if not in practice. Perhaps the problem in making the precept
stick is that even such a simple rule is not immune to the foibles and
failings of human interpretation, qualification, dispensation, and
exemption.
One blatant and bloody exception from the no-no against killing
is given to combatants during wartime. As a species, we’ve hacked,
burned, bludgeoned, stabbed, speared, shot, and blasted our way
across several continents and thousands of years without much
regard for the dictate of any Higher Being. In fact, during those
frequently reoccurring times of militant feeding frenzy, we’re
encouraged to hate our enemies and given special permission by our
earthly authorities to waste whoever happens to be on the wrong end
of our gun barrels and beneath our bomb bay doors.
Another novel interpretation is presented by the religious right
when they seize upon the dictum against murder as reason to deny
some citizens the right to choose whether or not to bring another
consumer into this hungry, overcrowded, and increasingly threadbare
world. Abortion is murder, they say, and then proceed to murder
anyone who dares to practice what is essentially a legal, medical
procedure. Both sides of the debate continue their contributions to
the body count.
Still another exemption took place recently in the great state
of Texas when they snuffed a woman even though she found God while
she waited to be killed by the followers of the very same god who
commanded them not to. Although it would appear the principal
reason for injecting the lethal brew into her veins was simply that
she was a woman and Texas wanted to support equal treatment of the
ladies in the matter of capital punishment. The issue became one of
women’s rights and not the morality of murder by execution.
However hypocritical, conflicting, contradictory and downright
blasphemous abortion, capital punishment and war may be, they have
often superseded the basic edict from our Higher Self for as long as
we have existed as reasoning creatures.
Maybe abortion is murder and should be outlawed as a method
of birth control. It’s not as if we don’t already have several other
more humane, if not more effective, preventive methods.
Maybe war is a necessary evil to ward off an even greater evil.
Aren’t the means sometimes justified by the end even if those lethal
means result in countries populated by widows and orphans?
And maybe, if the horror stories in the media are any
indication, there truly are murderous monsters lurking in our society
who may well deserve a permanent removal from our midst.
Which brings me to my point at last:
The popular rationale used by many proponents is that capital
punishment is a deterrent to murder (despite the grim reality of
continuing high murder rates). So, perhaps we should put the theory
to the test by making executions public. How can a deterrent deter
if no one sees the deterrent?
When we shock, shoot, hang, poison, gas, behead, stone, crucify, or otherwise snuff our major miscreants, let all citizens young and old
be afforded the opportunity to see the deed done. After all, we
televise our wars and even video tape abortions. And if the O.J.
circus, the Princess Di death orgy, and the presidential peccadillos
are any indications, the television networks should jump at any kind of
novel prime time spectacles to capture viewers and boost ratings.
What better than nationally televised executions?
As we sit before our tubes and watch the smoke curl from the
ears of an electrified skull, follow an instant replay of extremities
dancing to the terminal tug of the gallows noose, capture VCR images
of bullets ripping apart fragile flesh and bone, listen to a narrator
count each deadly drop as it trickles into a failing heart, we might all
observe what could happen if we violate the sacred sanction against
killing.
If even that graphic lesson fails to make an impression, at the
very least, it might cause us to ponder the paradox surrounding our
convenient suspension of this very simple, very old, and very neglected
commandment. Copyright ©1997 by Russ Moritz. All rights reserved
Table of Contents
Back to Home Page