Before I go on I don’t want anyone to think that I am attacking the Catholic church. I do however want to address something in the excerpt that I do not know as a pacifist how to accept. The part that says it is not necessary for salvation to avoid killing another man in self defense. So what I understand here is that if it within my power to spare the life of my attacker and I choose not to do so it’s ok, not the best thing to do mind you but not the same as murder.
If it’s actually within your power to spare the life of your attacker and still carry out your other duties (protection of yourself and your family), then I would argue that it is indeed a sin to go ahead and kill. Not only that, if it is clear that that is what you did, it is a civil crime even in jurisdictions that are quite permissive about self-defense.
I recently had to take a class in the self-defense law of my state (Kentucky, USA), and killing unnecessarily does not fall under justified self-defense. Of course, you have to take into account your likely mental state and knowledge at the time. If you
know that you can stop the threat without killing the assailant, but you kill anyway, then you are both a criminal and a sinner. However, very few people in that situation are going to have that kind of certainty.
I don’t think the Catechism is trying to defend the person who kills unnecessarily and claims self-defense. Rather, it is saying that if you defend yourself reasonably and the attacker dies thereby, you have committed no sin.
Let me use this in an example I have heard many times (and will address later in another context). It’s late at night and you wake up to the sound of a criminal in your house. You quietly sneak up behind him and on the counter there is a skillet and a knife. Thinking this man seeks to do you and your family harm you grab the knife and mortally wound him. The option of knocking him unconscious was there but you chose to kill him. According to the Catechism this is not ideal but it is also not a sin.
First of all, the options are not as stark as you present them. Knocking someone unconscious without lingering harm by a blow to the head is not as easy a thing as we see in popular culture. The skillet blow could also kill, and the assailant could survive the knife wound.
This is what I have recently been taught, though granted it deals more with the practicalities and legalities of self-defense rather than the morality. If one is to the point of using force in self-defense, one is not trying either to kill or to wound. Focusing on either one is counterproductive. The purpose of defensive force is to
stop the threat.
If you can
escape the threat without putting yourself or another innocent at greater risk, then you do that.
If you can defuse the threat with talk or just the threat of force, that’s great – but don’t bluff. You don’t hold someone at gunpoint (say) unless you are willing to pull the trigger and possibly end that person’s life, should the threat resume.
If you show resistance and the assailant runs for it, you win. Do not pursue and most certainly do not use deadly force at that point. It’s never self-defense if the other guy is running away.
If, in your judgment at the time, the only way to prevent serious injury or death to yourself or someone else is to use force against the threatening person, then do so. But again, the goal is to
stop the threat, not to punish the guy for daring to attack you. If the guy falls down or runs away wounded, you don’t get to keep whacking, stabbing, or shooting him. If he remains an active threat, then you may employ additional force. Killing the assailant is never the goal, though it may be what ultimately happens. Likewise, keeping the assailant alive cannot be your active goal, unless you have reliable non-lethal means of stopping the threat at your disposal.
In short, your goal in a self-defense situation is to keep yourself and other threatened people alive and reasonably well, by whatever means are at your disposal (including entirely non-violent ones). You’re not out to hurt or kill anyone, and would prefer that the whole situation were not happening. But the assailant has decided to make it happen, and so what happens to him cannot be your immediate concern.
Usagi
I just don’t fully understand the belief system and how it can be reasonably applied. Also, I thought this way before I ever considered joining the Army, so I’m not just trying to defend my job.