NONVIOLENCE. Virtually every religious tradition contains some sort of injunction against taking human life. The biblical instruction "Thou shalt not kill" (Ex. 20:13, Dt. 5:17), considered normative for both Jewish and Christian traditions, is echoed in the New Testament (Mt. 5:21) and also in the Qurʾān: "Slay not the life that God has made sacred" (6:152). In the Buddhist tradition, the first of the Five Precepts mandated as part of the Eightfold Path of righteous living is the requirement not to kill. A Jain text claims that "if someone kills living things … his sin increases" (Sūtrakṛtāṅga 1.1), a sentiment that is also found in Hinduism: "The killing of living beings is not conducive to heaven" (Manusmṛti 5.48).

Despite the general agreement over the immorality of killing, however, there is a great deal of disagreement within and among religious traditions over such crucial matters as (1) how the rule against killing...