Dennis Prager’s series on Judeo-Christian values doesn’t let up in quality even as he submits Part XVIII for our intellectual curiosity.
This is vital reading for Canadians. People who are following this series are smarter as a result of doing so, than those who aren’t—unless you think you already know everything, in which case you think you’re smarter than everybody, and you probably vote liberal-left come election time. Which proves you aren’t so smart after all.
This one is about capital punishment and why it is important. Having this discussion in Canada makes you a freak of course, because liberals think murderers should be coddled and hugged and given MTV and state-subsidized tattoos (yes really—read about it!)— and therefore being a non-liberal position, its discussion is strictly taboo. Don’t be a murdererphobe! Be tolerant! Vote liberal!
[…] When all murderers are allowed to keep their lives, murder is rendered less serious and human life is therefore cheapened. That is not only the Judeo-Christian biblical view. It is common sense. The punishment for a crime is what informs society how bad that crime is. A society that allows all murderers to live deems murder less awful than one that takes away the life of a murderer.
There are those who argue that precisely because they so value human life, they oppose the taking of a murderer’s life. They argue that you cannot teach that killing is wrong by killing. But that is the same as arguing that you can’t teach that stealing is wrong by taking away a thief’s money or that you can’t teach that kidnapping is wrong by kidnapping (i.e., imprisoning) kidnappers.
To the Torah, the first source of Judeo-Christian values, murder is the great sin; the immoral shedding of human blood (as opposed to the moral shedding of human blood in self-defense or in a just war) pollutes the world. That is why the Torah legislated that even an animal that killed a human should be put to death. The purpose was not to punish the animal—animals do not have free choice, hence cannot be morally culpable. And it was hardly to teach other animals not to kill. It was because a human life is so valuable, it cannot be taken without the taker losing its life. […]
For those who aren’t up to speed yet, you’ll find that there’s an archive of the whole Dennis Prager series, as well as his other excellent columns at townhall.com.
PTBC was founded by Mr. Johannesen in 2000.
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