A recently circulated e-mail emphasized that the Bible says though shalt not kill. It went onto say that schools no longer teach Christianity or Judaism and therefore children don't learn this "rule". The conclusion was that this results in incidents such as school shootings.
The author was of course referring to the Ten Commandments. I think all the major religions and philosophies of the world teach something along those lines. No matter what anyone’s personal religious views are, parents and teachers can and should be, bringing up children to know and respect a set of ethical values. During the teenage years, being the turbulent stage that they are, it is very helpful for a teenager to have an ethical religion or philosophy to hold on to: to be their guidance when confused and to give them a greater reason to hold out against peer pressure.
At www.globalethics.org there is a list of what they call universal values – honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness (justice) and compassion (love).
If we all followed those universal values and brought children up to do the same would it reduce incidents such as the one at Skielik and the West Rand samurai sword killing?
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