World Religions' View of Taking Life

Killing is not a sin in every religion, unlike some think. There are conditions in which killing is either acceptable or preferred in every religion. That is one reason some fear religion.

Original Orthodox Judaism has many laws that demand Capital Punishment (killing). They are listed here: "murder (Numbers 35:16) and rape (Deuteronomy 22:25)... adultery (Leviticus 20:10), homosexual behavior (Leviticus 20:13), kidnapping (Exodus 21:16), loving anything more than God (Leviticus 20:2), occult practices (Exodus 22:18), pre-marital sex (Leviticus 21:9), not observing the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-36), and striking or slandering a parent (Exodus 21:15, 17)".

Christianity abolished the Jewish requirements for the death penalty for adultery (abolished by Jesus in John 4:1-42 and John 8:1-11). Christianity did not require the death penalty for "the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers" in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. In fact, Jesus came to conquer death. But Christianity too does permit killing in some instances, which I discuss in my article "Why Would a Christian Ever Be Pro-War???". Just for the record, Christians condemn the Crusades and realize the wrong that they were. That is why there was a reconciliation walk for the wrongs against the Muslim people.

Speaking of Islam, the Qur'an instructs Muslims to kill here: "But when the forbidden months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem" (At-Touba 9:5). Other places the Qur'an recommends killing is listed here: Al-Baqarah 2:191, An-Nissa 4:89, Al-Maidah 5:33, Al-Anfal 8:17, At-Touba 9:14 and Al-Ahzab 33:61. For a "religion of peace", there are numberable commands to kill non-Muslims. Many religions do not have this mandate in their sacred documents.

Hinduism applies circular logic to killing. When Arjuna asks Krishna how he can kill his cousins, uncles, brothers and friend's sons, Krishna says it is ok to slaughter them in the Bhagavad-Gita, because "You cannot kill them, because they are dead already; their own actions have doomed them. You cannot be responsible for their deaths, because each one is responsible for his own death". Hinduism implies here that the killing of Arjuna's family and friends is ok, because it is their karma to be slaughtered. Also in 2002, there was about one killing a month in human sacrifice to the Hindu goddess Kali.

Child sacrifice was common in Incan religion.

Also in the Zulu religion a woman in 2002 reported sacrificing her own child, for the Zulu gods to make her husband rich.

In Secular Humanism, baby sacrifice (abortion) is considered the religious "moral right of women", if the baby would be an inconvenience, an economic drain, unwanted for ANY reason and a potential burden upon the god of the State/society (and therefore economically advantageous to kill). "46 million women around the world have abortions each year." 46 Million mothers every year worldwide sacrifice their babies in accord with Secular Humanist dogma. "Of these women, 78% live in developing countries and 22% in developed countries". This totals, to some's estimates, up to a loss of 836 Million babies lives terminated from 1920-2000. That is a lot of dead babies for the Secular Humanist beliefs.

Atheism has been the bloodiest and most violent religion among adults of the 20th Century, but I'll discuss their atrocities in my next post...