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Personal Growth —

Spreading The Concept Of “Thou Shalt Not Kill”

A 2002 book that describes a world “without killing, threats to kill, or conditions conducive to killing” is spearheading a global movement that questions what many assume is a natural fact of human existence.

What’s the Latest Development?

In the 10-plus years since retired political science professor Glenn Paige published — online, for free — Nonkilling Global Political Science, the book has been translated into 30 languages, influenced the founding of schools and organizations, and inspired over 700 scholars in 73 countries to question the “assumption that killing is an inescapable part of the human condition and must be accepted in theory and practice.” His organization, the Center for Global Nonkilling, has partnered with the World Health Organization’s Violence Prevention Alliance in hopes of finding ways to stop killing around the world.

What’s the Big Idea?

A veteran of the Korean War, Paige says the idea of a world without killing first came to him in 1974. Unlike concepts such as peace and nonviolence, nonkilling is measurable and specific in that its focus is simply on not taking another human life. It also places responsibility on individuals and institutions, rather than governments, and it draws inspiration from many different religions and humanist beliefs that call for a respect for life. His ultimate mission: “[T]o eliminate human killing on the globe just the way we put a person on the moon.”

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

Read it at The Christian Science Monitor

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