Murder the Morality of Murder:

Murder

The Morality of Murder:

Similar Views, Different Circumstances

Starring in the movie Valkyrie, Tom Cruise portrays Calus Von Stauffenberg, the famous German military officer who plotted to kill Hitler on July 20, 1944 (Silverman, 2009). Cruise's convincing portrayal of Stauffenberg beings many ethical issues to mind. Adolf Hitler brought about the deaths of many innocent people. Murdering him in 1944 would have saved lives, but was Von Stauffenberg's attempt ethically justified? Is murder ever morally right; is it ever acceptable to kill? Through a brief history of murder and its ethics, as well as a perusal of the concept through the divine command and natural law theories, one can determine that murder is morally and ethically justified in certain cases.

As long as there has been humanity, there has been murder. The Bible recounts the story of Cain and Able as the story of the first murder. Upset with his brother, Cain calls his brother, Able, into a field where he ruthlessly murders him out of jealousy. The question of whether or not this murder is morally acceptable is answered quite clearly by God, who curses Cain for his misdeed (Holy Bible, New International Version, Genesis 4:2-10). Even from the point-of-view of today's society, the fact that Cain's murder was not morally acceptable is easy to see for most ethicists. No good came from this murder. Instead, the murder was merely wrought out of Cain's own jealousy and frustration. However, not all acts of murder are as easy to classify as Cain's. Throughout history, murder has served as a tool for avenging the innocent, punishing the guilty, and comforting the suffering. First, attempts at assassination, successful or otherwise, have been made in order to avenge the innocent, even going so far as to protect other lives. In addition to the attempted assassination of Hitler, President Bush's preemptive war with Iraq was based on the premise that taking some lives through war would save others in the future, when Iraq's supposed weapons of mass destruction were deployed. While weapons of mass destruction did not exist in Iraq, his attempt for invasion still suggests the avenging, or in this case, the protecting of the innocent. This is also the type of murder that occurs when a person kills a criminal who has killed or harmed someone that this person cares for. Second, murder has traditionally been used as a method of punishing the guilty. The United States believes that murder is acceptable in order to punish society's most heinous criminals, killing them not only to punish, but also to protect society. This was the case with Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh. Internationally, the murder of Saddam Hussein was also sanctioned as morally acceptable for his crimes against humanity as dictator of Iraq. Finally, murder is often seen as acceptable in order to end the suffering of someone who is in pain. The current euthanasia debate is an excellent example of this. Some believe that either giving drugs in order to kill a suffering adult or child or stopping medical practices that are keeping that suffering person alive, events that add up to murder, is acceptable if a person is likely or certain to die shortly regardless of treatment ("The great euthanasia debate," 2009). Thus, throughout international society, the belief that murder is morally acceptable in certain situations is pervasive, commonly when avenging or protecting the innocent, punishing criminals, or ending suffering. While the morality of the murders that were committed in the incidents above are certainly open to interpretation, the fact remains that, in at least some incidents, murder can be morally justified. Every case is not as simple as Cain and Able's.

Just as history has shown cases where murder has been a moral or acceptable act, and society has emphasized that morality, the divine command theory also allows for acceptable or moral murder. As this theory is primarily concerned with the morality of God, and suggests that "morality is ultimately based on the commands or character of God, and that the morally right action is the one that God commands or requires" (Austin, 2006), murder can quite easily be made moral, ethical, or acceptable. The only measure necessary for this to occur is for God to desire murder. The instances in which God declares that murder is necessary are the instances in which murder is right. Austin (2006) points out that divine command theory holds that morality changes based on which God believes in. Throughout both history and modernity, there have been many cases in which a God or God's commandments have been used to justify murder. In the Old Testament of the Bible, the Judeo-Christian God often called for the murder of those who did not believe in the same God as the chosen people. In addition, the concept of Jihad is often taken to mean a command from God to murder unbelievers in extreme Muslim faiths. Those who bomb abortion clinics have often suggested that God commanded them to do such a thing. Thus, the divine command theory's connection with murder has been established for centuries. Many believe that murder is morally right or acceptable in certain circumstances because morality comes from God and they believe God is directing them to murder. Thus, the divine command theory certainly sanctions murder ins some instances by arguing that murder is not objective, but is simply defined as what God commands. While divine command theory may be enough to justify the sometimes acceptability of murder to those who believe in God, however, Anscombe (1958, as cited in Austin, 2006) argues that society has denied the existence of God, and should not, therefore, use terms that relate to a God as paramount for making its decisions. Thus, the divine command theory cannot be used to justify murder in some instances to those who do not believe in God.