The heinous actions of the Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023 can unequivocally be described as evil. It had as its genesis the inculcated belief that Jews are malevolent and subhuman, therefore, they are deserving of death, destruction and being conquered by any means possible including the unconscionable and premeditated slaughter of women, children and the elderly.

In keeping with a tactic almost as old as mankind itself, the self-appointed leaders of Middle Eastern Islamic terrorist groups and the political leaders of nations such as Iran have manipulated their maleducated followers or citizenry into believing Israel and the Jews have either taken what is rightfully theirs, are the personification of evil, or are responsible for their misery.

Throughout the history of mankind unscrupulous leaders and their disciples have exploited mankind’s base nature as exemplified by what the Catholic Church defines as the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth.  These human failings invariably lead to a near-irreversible loss of respect for human life and in due course a society riddled with uncontrolled evil.

The loss of respect for life has also begun to dramatically infiltrate the American ruling elites and the overall society as over the past two decades the following, previously unthinkable, changes have occurred within the United States: 

• Unfettered abortion up to the point of birth and post-birth infanticide has become a policy position of the Democrat Party.
• Euthanasia is openly discussed and supported by an ever-growing (73%) segment of the population. 
• Sexually confused teens are being coerced into mutilation and permanent disfigurement in order to appease the gods of transgenderism, accompanied by an unabashed campaign to legalize pedophilia. 
• A significant plurality of Americans is demanding the censorship, imprisonment, and persecution of their political adversaries while they, and recent Islamic immigrants, are openly supporting and justifying the slaughter of Jews by Hamas.
• Tribalism has been mainstreamed and with it the belief that certain ethnicities or races are inferior to others and also responsible for society’s ills, therefore, they are deserving of disrespect, abuse and discrimination.

The path the United States is presently traveling will inevitably lead to the darkening shadow of unfettered evil descending upon the land leading to national self-destruction.  

Respect for life runs counter to mankind’s base nature and a world that oftentimes sees human life as expendable for reasons of political power, economic gain, territorial conquest, and supposedly, in the name of religions that coincidentally promulgate respect for life.

Respect for life is not just a religious value, it is a foundational value of all societies in which reasonable people would want to live.  Those who see mankind as having dignity just because they are human, believe that respect for life requires they do not intentionally kill, abuse or torture another human being.

The world’s major religions, which represent 78% of the global population, believe and teach that respect for life is fundamental to all religious sensibilities and societies.  Judaism, Christianity, and Islam believe God created mankind; thus, human life is entitled to respect and dignity. Hinduism views human life as a manifestation or expression of the Divine.  And Buddhism sees human beings as entities that can ultimately attain enlightenment (Buddhahood) and are entitled to respect. All major religions agree in unequivocally stating that life is sacred. 

Therefore, the taking of human life is regarded as among the gravest of transgressions, except where it may be necessary to protect oneself or others from greater harm. 

An ironic commonality of language underscoring the sanctity of life and the condemnation for the taking of it can be seen first in the Jewish Talmud (200 AD) and later in the Islamic Qur’an (600 AD).  In the Talmud, Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:9:

Whoever destroys a life, it is considered as if he destroyed the entire world.  And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved the entire world.

The fifth chapter of the Qur’an, Surah Al-Maidah verse 32:  

…that whosoever kills a human being for other than murder or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he has killed all mankind, and whoever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he saved the life of all mankind.

Yet, Hamas, Hezb’allah and other middle eastern terrorist groups profess an explicit belief in Islam and in God’s revelations to Mohammad as recorded in the Qur’an, the central religious text of Islam.  Unfortunately, many militant Islamists seize upon other verses amid the 114 chapters of the Qur’an they claim can be interpreted to fit their agenda or personal animosities or as justification for violence and conquest. 

Once evil controls a society it cannot be bargained with or appeased.  The deep-seated disregard for life extends to their own population who are sacrificed by their leaders either via unending warfare, imprisonment, or execution.  Ultimately, as history has repeatedly revealed, these societies either destroy themselves from within or are, by necessity, conquered by others.   

Once again, the world has been reminded that evil exists. As in Europe in the 1930s, the unbridled evil rampant throughout the Middle East will metastasize into another global conflagration if not addressed and ultimately eliminated and that the underlying root cause is not economic, or territorial, or religious but malevolent disregard for human life.

Image: Franz von Stuck