that commandment about murder and/or killing

By alice | September 29, 2009

‘However, I do get a lot of weird Christians with a little red glint on their spectacles and spittle at the corner of their mouths who say things like, “The Commandment says, Thou Shalt Not Kill.” And I always say, “Well, that’s rather strange given how bloodthirsty Jehovah was.” Personally, I think the Commandment should read, Thou Shalt Commit No Murder, which is rather different. In any case, it’s all made-up.’

This is from a wonderful interview with Terry Pratchett in the Telegraph. He’s talking about euthanasia. But anyway, my understanding is that the original Hebrew actually DOES prohibit murder rather than killing, which would make no sense at all, as there is plenty of lawful killing in the Old Testament. Execution was not prohibited in early Jewish society, unless I’ve got something badly wrong here.

Anyway, I wish people wouldn’t so often assume that the Christian Bible they (often vaguely) know is the absolute last-word authority on the Old Testament, especially not the Hebrew version. It’s the sort of flippant negative judgement we should all abhor these days. Not that I’m upset with Terry Pratchett; I think it’s a massive, widespread and therefore understandable mistake. I understand why atheists wouldn’t want to make the effort to study religious texts, it’s just a shame to base one’s important negative judgements on theological errors.

Is there any possible argument that some of us, being ill-educated in certain areas, should simply back off and be humble? I find myself less and less inclined to keep up with the ins and outs of politics, for instance. I know comparatively nothing about several major religions, and am totally uninterested in anything but the most popular, gripping science. So I won’t be attacking any of those groups. In general, if you’re criticising any enormous group of millions of people (Americans, Jews, Blacks, Gays, Theists) your generalisations are probably going to be (a) a waste of time and (b) superficial. The wrong focus, I would say.

3 Comments »

3 Responses to “that commandment about murder and/or killing”

gcotharn Says:
September 29th, 2009 at 3:47 pm

Amongst my friends and acquaintances, the commandment is widely understood as: thou shalt not murder.

I get your frustration with Christians who make misguided assumptions about the Old Testament.

Separately, I rise in defense of “weird Christians”.

First, I am skeptical that Terry Pratchett encounters:

“a lot of weird Christians with a little red glint on their spectacles and spittle at the corner of their mouths who say things like, ‘The Commandment says, Thou Shalt Not Kill.’”

“a lot”? “a lot”?! Really? Terry Pratchett, in whatever social or cause related circles in which he walks, encounters “a lot of weird Christians with … spittle at the corner of their mouths”? I’m skeptical.

Second: it’s my Texas influenced experience that Christians who believe the Commandment means “kill” are, on average, less educated than the middle class and upper middle class Christians whom I frequently interact with, and whom widely interpret the Commandment as “Thou shalt not murder”. Therefore, if Terry Pratchett is truly encountering “weird Christians”, then he is likely encountering persons who come from moderately educated or less educated lower or lower middle class backgrounds, i.e. persons who might be described – in many societies – as “downtrodden”.

Is it a bad thing that potentially downtrodden persons are inspired by any major religion – including Christianity? Is it a bad thing that these persons are rejecting downtroddenism (s/b a word!) and are stepping into life as aggressively as they can see a way to step into it – even if that stepping up appears weird to Terry Pratchett? even if it takes some crazy brazenness for a downtrodden person to join a cause and oppose Terry Pratchett’s learned opinions? Isn’t such occurrence a good thing?

Which, I do not harshly condemn Terry Pratchett. I’m just disagreeing, in this isolated instance, with his take on this. Terry Pratchett might consider: are downtrodden atheists, on average, as happy and fulfilled as downtrodden Christians (or religious persons in general)? Do downtrodden atheists, on average, contribute as much to their communities and societies as downtrodden religious persons? It’s just my own speculation, but: I think not. Amongst the world’s “downtrodden”, downtrodden religious persons reside atop the heap.

Here endeth my rant about “a lot”.

Bunny Smedley Says:
September 30th, 2009 at 5:39 am

This is a wise post in general, but the last paragraph in particular is absolutely spot-on – thanks for reminding us.

Shefaly Says:
October 2nd, 2009 at 2:21 pm

A bigoted ignoramus who knows of his/ her bigotry and ignorance is much better than one who believes him/herself to be both fair and well-informed. This is my bigoted view on the hierarchy of ignorance and I am sticking to it :-P