Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
The Problem of Dylann Roof

The Problem of Dylann Roof

Last updated on: January 11, 2017 at 4:23 pm by Mary Pezzulo

The Problem of Dylann Roof 2017-01-11T16:23:09-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I’ve grumbled before about ethics textbooks and the way I was taught ethics in philosophy classes. I’m put off by the way they attempt to take the marvelous, wondrous thing which is a person and the infinite mystery of how we can show proper reverence for that wonder, and turn it into a set of rules. I understand why they do that, but I don’t enjoy it. It’s frightening how quickly ethics can turn into a logic puzzle, arguing the proper response not to people but to a series of idiotic cartoon scenarios. If you were in a runaway trolley which couldn’t brake, but the steering was fine, and you had a choice between steering to hit a case of beer or steering to hit a baby, what would you do? Ah, but what if the choice was between two babies, and one had a terminal disease? What if you knew that one baby would grow up to be a terrorist? What if you were stranded on a life raft with a murderer and a saint, and you needed a kidney? What if you were locked in a dungeon and force to resort to cannibalism? What if I cut a body in half, but kept both halves alive? What if your brain was made of Christmas lights? What if there was a pure psychopath incapable of doing good, and you could stop him by running him down with your trolley?

These thought experiments usually seem ludicrous, to me.

Usually, ethics in real life is not so black and white; the circumstances wherein we’re called to make ethical choices are not that crisp and obvious. Hardly anyone in real life is a stereotype plucked from a logic problem. Hardly any ethical scenario is as clear-cut and dire.

Yet, here we are.

Dylann Roof is about as close to an ethics puzzle stereotype as you can get. He is a hateful, racist killer and a terrorist. He has suppressed his conscience to the point where he’s annoyed at the sounds of grief. He did just about the worst thing a person can do to another, nine times, mostly to elderly people and preachers; he did it for the worst reason imaginable, and he’s not sorry. He has no dependents and no role in society. If he were run over with a trolley today, I wonder if anyone would even mourn.

And yesterday, a jury in the State of Georgia sentenced Dylann Roof to the hypothetical trolley.

He’s going to be executed for murder.

And we are faced with an ethics problem.

If you could kill a truly evil man, ought you to do it? Not indirect killing; not just war or self-defense, where you act with potentially deadly force to stop something worse from happening. I mean real killing. Here’s a jolt of electricity or a cocktail of drugs which will certainly wipe out an evil man’s life. It will cost you no earthly price to flip the switch. No one will miss him. It won’t even hurt him that much, not for long. You’ll gain a more orderly society, a sense of justice fulfilled, a certain amount of closure for his victims, and a reputation for being tough on crime. Ought you to do it?

No, you ought not.

Because, killing a person is evil.

Acting with deadly force to defend people may not be, but directly killing is.

And Dylann Roof is a person.

Our faith demands that we respond in love and reverence, toward persons. Even evil persons. Even a person like Dylann Roof. He’s done his best to bury his own humanity, but it’s still there. I don’t know if it will ever be unearthed– I hope and pray that it can, that he can be brought to repentance and a life of virtue. But even if it never is, we are required to act with mercy toward everyone, including him.

I don’t like that, but there it is.

(image via Pixabay)

Previous Post

January 10, 2017

Requiem For The Forgotten

Next Post

January 11, 2017 How to Take A(n Intelligence) Leak

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did God write the Ten Commandments with?

Select your answer to see how you score.

His finger A chisel A pen A sword