There are elaborate rules of jewish law on the subject of self defense.
Basically unlike American. Law they put a premium on the life of the person
attacked with doubts resolved in his or her favor even at the expense of the
attacker's life. There are obviously different rules when a lesser response
will suffice. .this hard line attitude helps explain why many israelis reject
ihl insistence that doubts about the availability of a self defense claim be
resolved against the claim. I will try to find a written summary
Marc stern
- Original Message -
From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu
To: Law Religion issues for Law Academics religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu
Sent: Fri Mar 20 18:10:46 2009
Subject: RE: Religious attitudes towards self-defense, deadly and otherwise
Very interesting, thanks very much!
-Original Message-
From: religionlaw-boun...@lists.ucla.edu [mailto:religionlaw-
boun...@lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Perry Dane
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 2:18 PM
To: religionlaw@lists.ucla.edu
Subject: Religious attitudes towards self-defense, deadly and
otherwise
Eugene,
I can't, offhand, help you with precise theological sources,
but you might be interested in an internal debate that occurred at
Calvin College, the very intellectually and religiously serious Dutch
Reformed college in Michigan, when the school administration decided
(after the Virginia Tech tragedy) to issue guns to some members of
the college security force. A group of students got very upset over
the decision, claiming it was unchristian, and the administration
produced a Theological Explanation for the Use of Force Policy.
For some account, see, e.g.
http://www.calvin.edu/news/2007-08/use-of-force.htm
http://www.crcna.org/news.cfm?newsid=530
http://clubs.calvin.edu/chimes/article.php?id=3713
http://blog.mlive.com/grpress/2008/05/calvin_board_oks_gun_policy_fo.htm
l
I haven't been able to find the explanation theological document that
the college administration drafted in defense of its policy.
Hope this helps.
Perry
Eugene Volokh wrote:
I'm looking for good sources that discuss religious attitudes
towards self-defense or defense of others, deadly and otherwise; in
particular, I'm looking to see whether there are religious groups
that
(1) take the view that deadly force is always bad, even in
self-defense
or defense of others, but nondeadly force (including pepper spray,
stun
guns, and other devices that are extremely unlikely to kill) is
permissible, or (2) take the view that given the choice between
nondeadly force and deadly force, one should always use nondeadly
force,
unless the nondeadly force is very likely to fail (e.g., all one has
for
nondeadly force is fists vs. an attacker's knife).
***
Perry Dane
Professor of Law
Rutgers University
School of Law -- Camden
217 North Fifth Street
Camden, NJ 08102
d...@crab.rutgers.edu
Bio: www.camlaw.rutgers.edu/bio/925/
SSRN Author page: www.ssrn.com/author=48596
Work: (856) 225-6004
Fax: (856) 969-7924
Home: (610) 896-5702
***
***
Perry Dane
Professor of Law
Rutgers University
School of Law -- Camden
217 North Fifth Street
Camden, NJ 08102
d...@crab.rutgers.edu
Bio: www.camlaw.rutgers.edu/bio/925/
SSRN Author page: www.ssrn.com/author=48596
Work: (856) 225-6004
Fax: (856) 969-7924
Home: (610) 896-5702
***
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