THE P RTAL
December 2013
Page 10
The A - Z of the Catholic Faith
by Fr Stephen Wang
K is for…
Killing
The Fifth Commandment says, ‘You shall
not kill’. In the Jewish-Christian understanding, there is
an intrinsic dignity to every human being. This does not
depend on our abilities or ‘quality of life’. Human life is
sacred. We are made in God’s image; created out of love.
It is always morally wrong to kill an innocent human
being directly and intentionally. Every human being
has a right to life from conception to natural death.
The Fifth Commandment forbids murder, abortion,
euthanasia and suicide, without ruling out legitimate
self-defence. Self-defence does not, however, excuse
war crimes such as indiscriminate bombing or the
deliberate killing of unarmed civilians.
In theory, the death penalty may sometimes be
necessary to protect society against an unjust aggressor;
but in practice there are nearly always better ways of
punishing crimes and protecting the common good.
Catholics are not ‘vitalists’ who believe that human
life must be preserved at every cost. Sometimes, for
example, it can be allowable to stop an ‘over-zealous’
medical treatment that is causing great suffering with
only a small benefit. Sometimes we can choose to do
something (for example, defuse a bomb or witness
to our faith in a time of persecution), knowing it
may result in our death. In these cases we are not
killing ourselves or directly choosing to die, rather
we are accepting death as a consequence of choosing
something that is good.
Kingdom Of God
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