”Thou shalt not kill.”
To whom does this apply? Who gets to decide? Who gets a reprieve?
Is it the people who want to eliminate abortion, but at the same time condone and support capital punishment? Is it the woman who chooses to have an abortion? Is it the prison authorities in California who, when asked whether they would honor Clarence Ray Allen’s request to be allowed to die if he went into cardiac arrest before his execution, said they would not honor the request. Why?
” ‘At no point are we not going to value the sanctity of life,’ prison spokesman Vernell Crittendon said. ‘We would resuscitate him,’ then execute him.” (Quote from an article by Don Thompson of the Associated Press)
Does it apply to any president, monarch, prime minister, Indian chief, etc., who sends soldiers into battle? Or the 18-year-old soldier who kills a fellow 18-year-old because he wears a different uniform? Or the terrorist who blows himself up on a bus of innocent victims? The anguished person who takes his own life? The insecure, threatened guys in the white sheets who ambush a young black person for whistling at a white woman?
Who gets to decide what God meant by that simple commandment? I admit I’m confused.