The Consequences of Celebrating Death: A Biblical, Ethical, and Moral Reflection
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
This essay addresses the ethical, moral, and theological implications of publicly celebrating the death of a political or philosophical opponent, specifically in response to the killing of Charlie Kirk. I highlight the reactions from some individuals who feel it is unfair that people celebrating his death have faced consequences, like losing their jobs. I argue that there are serious moral, ethical, and theological concerns when someone openly rejoices in the death of another.
The other day I explored this topic in an essay titled Celebrating Death: A Disturbing Reality from a biblical point of view. I’d shared some verses that to me, are relevant to the topic.
As a few more days have progressed from the pivotal moment when TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk was killed, we have begun to see some consequences to those very people who celebrated his assassination. Some people are saying ‘It’s not fair’ that they get fired. Or they say ‘It’s just an opinion, I thought we had free speech in this country?!”
This caught my eye from Breitbart News, @BreitbartNews on Twitter-
There are three issues with someone publicly celebrating the killing of a political or philosophical opponent- moral, ethical, and theological.
I’d mentioned the moral issue in my previous essay. It’s simply not moral to wish death upon someone, particularly a young man with his whole life ahead of him, a family man with two young children, or simply a person with the breath of life in them that God created. We should recoil at murder. We should consider the moral weight even of properly conducted government executions.
There are ethical issues when someone openly celebrates the killing of an opponent. Many professional positions have a layer of trust added to them due to the position, such as teachers, nurses and doctors, judges, etc. That trust is with the public that the employee serves. We have seen teachers and nurses put on leave or fired for dancing on Charlie Kirk’s grave. We’ve seen complaints about pilots and judges doing the same.
Though we DO enjoy free speech in this country, no one is ever protected from the consequences of one’s speech. Every person is accountable for everything they say. With some jobs, their union or overseeing professional organization has the employee sign an ethics pledge. The ethics pledge usually contains language to which the upcoming employee swears to a professional standard of ethics and conduct.
LibsofTikTok reported that a Florida Nurse at @HCAFLHealthcare posted deranged message celebrating Charlie’s death: “I’m cheering for the assassination. I don’t mind saying it. … Deserves to be amongst the dead, should have been tortured .“
Nurses swear to the Forence Nightingale pledge. The Florence Nightingale Pledge is a modified Hippocratic Oath for nurses. Nurses recite the pledge, often at their pinning ceremonies, to express their dedication to ethical practice and the welfare of those under their care. It contains language that the health care professional will pledge to abstain from anything that is harmful or mischievous, and pledges to uphold welfare of those entrusted to their care. The nurse commits to uphold the standards of the profession.
Certainly hoping that someone who holds different opinions than yourself is tortured and that you’re glad he was killed violates those professional standards the nurse has pledged to uphold. Openly hoping that physical harm comes to a person is at odds with a health care professional’s ethical standards to do no harm.
A Judge in Ohio mocked Kirk’s death and said “rest in hatred and division…in hell” and called it karma that a white man killed Charlie Kirk. This statement by the judge caused Rep. Adam Mathews Calls for Resignation of Judge Berry Following Egregious Public Statements regarding Charlie Kirk. In the article it is stated, “The statements, which celebrated the death with vitriolic, racially charged, and political language, represent a serious violation of the ethical standards required of every judge in Ohio. “A judge must be a pillar of fairness and impartiality in our community. The Ohio Code of Judicial Conduct sets forth strict requirements for a judge’s behavior, both on and off the bench.“
Every state has an ethical pledge for judges. The Pennsylvania Code of Judicial Conduct states for example, “A judge shall uphold and promote the independence, integrity, and impartiality of the judiciary, and shall avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety.”
The West Virginia Judiciary Code says for example, “A Judge shall conduct the Judge’s personal and extrajudicial activities to minimize the risk of conflict with the obligations of Judicial Office.” This means, of course, that the Judge is supposed to appear impartial in his dealings outside court as well as inside court. By any stretch, this Ohio Judge publicly appearing racist and thrilled that Mr Kirk is ‘rotting in hell and division in hatred’ is an ethical violation of the judge’s pledge.
Airline pilots likewise either sign an individual ethics pledge when obtainign their license, or use the Air Line Pilots’ Association pledge which states in part,
“The tenets of this [ALPA] Code shall apply to all members without regard to gender. 1. An Air Line Pilot will keep uppermost in his mind that the safety, comfort, and well-being of the passengers who entrust their lives to him are his first and greatest responsibility. a. He will never permit external pressures or personal desires to influence his judgment, …”
One or more American Airline pilot(s) mocked Mr Kirk’s death on social media. The Secretary of Transportation brought the hateful posts to the attention of the company and called for the pilots’ removal.
This article states, “American Airlines condemns violence of any kind. Hate-related or hostile behavior runs contrary to our purpose, which is to care for people on life’s journey. Employees who promote such violence on social media were immediately removed from service. We will continue to initiate action with team members who display this kind of behavior.” Delta Airlines did the same, saying “Delta Airlines had also suspended employees pending investigation for violating the company’s social media policy, adding that it went beyond ‘healthy, respectful’ debate.“
Both companies said that such speech violates ethical and professional standards of pilots and also violates the company’s social media policy.
In each of these cases I’ve outlined, Nurses, Judges, and Pilots, we see that there are both ethical oaths or pledges and social media policies the employee must adhere to. Violating those have consequences. We are seeing those consequences played out in public.
There is a third consideration to discuss, the most important one beyond the moral and ethical. It’s the theological implication. James 1:14-16 says,
But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death. 16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters.
James is showing that even in saved Christians, and certainly in unsaved pagans, there is a gestation and birth process for sin. We think it, then we say it, then we do it. If we do not suppress and mortify those sinful desires that tempt us, the process will barrel along and eventually you will be doing the thing you only thought of at first.
The unsaved have no help to restrain their ungodly desires. Only external restraints are in play- such as professional oaths and pledges, government through its laws, family, or society- or one’s own conscience. When a person dwells where the restraints are loosened or even absent, they will give birth to ungodly desires. The evil thoughts once only thought privately, become a public declaration of their sin. And once spoken, the person is far along the process and may at some point give rise to their evil desire and actually carry it out! Not just the man who killed Charlie Kirk, but all those who applauded his death are saying by their speech that they are gestating the same evil.
Do not be deceived, sisters, we are under the same curse of sin. But we have the help of the Holy Spirit in us, given as a guarantee of the fullness to come. He helps us slay those thoughts as soon as they arise in our mind.
This is why 2 Corinthians 10:5 commands us to ‘take very thought captive and submit it to Christ.’ It’s why Philippians 4:8 commands us to think of what is noble and pure. We MUST capture any sinful thoughts and mortify them immediately, else we risk its growth in us. As a reminder, James outlines sin’s gestation process.
