Tolstoy explains beautifully as ever, the hypocrisy of Christians at war.

“There are in Europe twenty-eight millions of men under arms,” says Wilson, “to decide disputes, not by discussion, but by murdering one another. That is the accepted method for deciding disputes among Christian nations.
…
either Christianity is a failure, or those who have undertaken to expound it have failed in doing so.
…
I dared in the presence of forty persons to moot the proposition that war was incompatible with Christianity; I was regarded as an arrant fanatic. The idea that we could get on without war was regarded as unmitigated weakness and folly.”

– The Kingdom of God is within you, p127, Leo Tolstoy

Of course the number one Christian commandment is “Thou shalt not kill”, but indeed it is more nuanced than that. Killing animals is clearly permitted. Further Tolstoy gives a slightly more refined version:

“One of the first precepts of the eternal law inscribed in the consciences of all men,” says the Abbe Defourney, “is the prohibition of taking the life or shedding the blood of a fellow creature without sufficient cause, without being forced into the necessity of it.”

– The Kingdom of God is Within You, p128, Leo Tolstoy

This language is the problem. There is too much wiggle room for ‘necessity’ and ‘sufficient cause’. It was necessary and there was sufficient cause for the Jews to be killed according to the Nazis. You can argue with them, but it’s their government’s word against yours.

So let’s look at why animals kill. Animals kill through instinct, they kill for food for themselves and their family. If they’re not hungry they don’t kill. They might kill in self defence, through poison mostly. We are above the animals, so that should be a minimum. But we kill because we want to or are told to. For sport, for convenience, for war, for no reason at all.

So let’s refine this holy law. How about “only kill for food or self-defence.”? Animals, almost entirely, obey this. So you’re free to ignore this law but then don’t pretend like you’re better than the animals. You’re breaking the eternal law of the animals. If you want to go to war for oil, or because they’re hiding WMDs, go ahead. But remember that then you’re less than the animals. Dress it up in whatever moral right you believe you have, but an animal that follows this eternal law would not do this. We’re animals too. We’re sensible monkeys, but no more. We’re not Gods, we don’t get an exception because we’re smarter. The monkey’s don’t get more exceptions than other animals because they’re smarter than other animals.

Then the only reason to plan to kill a human is if you’re a cannibal, and of course you’re not a cannibal are you? Consider what Guy de Maupassant had to say:

“When cannibalism is spoken of, we smile with pride, proclaiming our superiority to these savages. Which are the savages, the real savages? Those who fight to eat the conquered, or those who fight to kill, for nothing but to kill?”

– The Kingdom of God is within you, p150, Leo Tolstoy

Now Christianity doesn’t allow for killing in self-defence. It is the law of non-resistance to violence. So that argument is out too if you’re a Christian. I agree with the non-resistance to violence. It is perhaps the one law that could lift us above the animals. But that’s a discussion for another time.

So that’s it…

Thou shalt not kill any creature unless… it is for food or self-defence.

Everything else is right out. Except for those Alien like parasitic wasps that lay their eggs inside some poor host for their kids to eat. I guess that’s kind of food… but Jesus wasps, can you keep that shit to a minimum please. I hope amongst my sarcasm, you will realise that I understand that this law is just my mental fumbling and there will be many exceptions for it, but I’m still very much beginning my philosophy around this. I hope to update and refine these basic thoughts over time.