Killing (Iraq, money, government, Army)

[whatnamecanido]

After the Fort Hood shootings, I began thinking more about humans killing each other. I'd like to hear your opinions on this.

The shooter at Fort Hood most likely killed people because of his religious beliefs. Now, the people he killed were people in the army. People who are trained to kill other people. Now, people in the army make the decision when they join that they are willing to kill for their country. What would you guys consider the difference between killing people in the name of religion and killing people in the name of your country?

I understand that you could say that our country only kills people in other countries because we are defending ourselves. Of course, the Iraq situation and some others in the past (e.g. Vietnam, Korea) were not exactly situations where they were attacking us.

I'm not pro-killing and I'm not anti-killing. I'm just confused with how some reasons for killing are accepted and some are not, when they both pretty much involve being willing to kill others for what you believe in.

[whatnamecanido]

Really? Nobody could clear this up for me?

[GregW]

Your question reaches to the heart of the question of why is killing with the sanction of god or government acceptable but killing for your own reasons anathema?

Good question. I do not have an answer beyond if killing for your own personal reason is immoral then killing for God and government is also immoral. Waging war for money is the ultimate sin.