Um, I think that the commandments say "thou shalt not kill" - not "thou shalt not kill except in the circumstances outlined in the following subsections". I would propose the rest outlined in this video would be described as ancient societal law if one were to apply "thoughtfulness" and "intelligence" to the interpretation.

I'm certainly not trying to defend the literal and infallible application of words in the old testament by the various religions derived from it but I would argue that this guy's application of thoughtfulness and intelligence to the issue leads him down the same path to black and white conclusions and calls to action trumpeted by those he seeks to denigrate.

didn't jesus say something about "love thy neighbour" and something about a splinter in somebody's eye, i dunno, haven't read the bible for a while, i could be wrong.

oh and there's something about "thou shalt not kill" in there too, i wonder how you can be of good moral christian character and also fight effectively in a battle?

persephone said:

If you are an atheist feeling oppressed by religious communities, you are paying far too much attention to other people's business.

First of all, I want to make a clarification of terms. A "religious community", in my mind, is just a group of people with (roughly) the same faith. As I said above, I generally do not point the finger or lash out at the average Joe. I respect the right of these people to believe whatever they want. As Condell says, I may find it silly, stupid, distasteful or any thing else, but as long as you leave me to my beliefs, you are welcome to yours. My main problems are further up the hierarchy.

Consider the following small sampling of current issues (at least in the US): Gay marriage, stem-cell research & abortion. These are issues which the Church has strong stances on, and that's fine. If the Church wants to say these are blasphemous and forbid them, that's also fine. But, as a person who does not follow the Church, I take offense when they start trying to apply their rules to me. If I want to live by their rules, I will join their club. So long as I'm not a member, I expect to be left alone.

To further illustrate, the Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays, most take issue with blood transfusions and saying the Pledge of Allegiance is considered idolatry, but I've never heard of the JWs trying to pass laws against birthday parties or blood transfusions. They keep it "all in the family".

nedtheundead said:

in an atheist world view there is no reason whatsoever to believe that there is anything wrong with taking an axe to condell's head yet i'm sure he believes very firmly that this would in fact be wrong.

This is just asinine and it's a perfect example of what I referred to in my original post about people believing atheists are without morals. Morality does not come from the Bible, the Torah or the Qur'an. Morality is defined by your environment. It is perhaps the perfect example of a zeitgeist.

What is right and wrong, and to what degree (there's a lot in the grey areas), is defined by where you live, how you live and when you live. All of us (presumably) believe that slavery and murder are wrong. Why do we believe this? Not because we once read it somewhere, but because we understand the emotional pain and trauma that they cause and we believe everyone's lives would be better without them. As George Carlin once pointed out, religion has never really had a problem with murder. The 5th commandment may be "Thou shalt not kill.", but most, if not all, of the holy books go on to condone killing in various ways and circumstances. So don't tell me I need a book from 2000 years ago to tell me what's right and what's wrong.

from the Bible:
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Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods. In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully. If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock. Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it. Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God. That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt. Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction. Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you. He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors. "The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him." (Deuteronomy 13:13-19 NLT)

************
How that squares with "Thou shalt not kill" I will never know.

I don't mean to make light of the situation;
Clearly, the height of irony is killing someone to show that it's wrong to kill someone.

Or, perhaps, it's quoting the "eye for an eye" passage from the Bible and overlooking the "thou shalt not kill" thing.

I think his point was that the Bible is filled with war and killings of other people. So calling it a message of peace and other such non-sense is kind of insane. Such as slaughtering Philistines was kind of ok in the view of the Bible.

The great George Carlin put it this way: "Murder. ...when you think about it, religion has never really had a big problem with murder. More people have been killed in the name of god than for any other reason. All you have to do is look at Northern Ireland, Cashmire, the Inquisition, the Crusades, and the World Trade Center to see how seriously the religious folks take thou shalt not kill. The more devout they are, the more they see murder as being negotiable. It depends on who's doin the killin' and who's gettin' killed."

EDIT: This was also copied and pasted from another site, so I didn't run it through a spell checker as the kind person below pointed out.

The bible may say "Thou shalt not kill" but it also teaches love, forgiveness and the equal treatment of all peoples. This is hate and discrimination. They are making it hard on the families who did not themselves go to war; should the parents or children suffer fear and guilt for what their loved ones have done (assuming it was wrong in the first place). I'm no christian but I know christian values and I have read the bible cover to cover, no where is this kind of hate promoted.

I'm not defending this woman in the slightest (or any religious zealot, ever) but the bible does quite famously say "Thou shalt not kill".

According to official reports it's even a specific commandment written in stone by god himself.

Funny how good christian soldiers keep forgetting that one as they empty their clips/bombs into/onto innocent men, women and children.