The sixth of the Ten Commandants, "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:13), can raise eyebrows in an era when wars in foreign countries continue, gunmen go on rampages, serial killers make headlines and murderers are executed by governments.

Today, many Christians interpret "Thou shalt not kill" to mean "Thou shalt not murder," several members of the Salt Lake Theological Seminary agree.

"Homicide signifies, in general, the killing of a human being," the Catholic Encyclopedia states. "In practice, however, the word has come to mean the unjust taking away of human life, perpetrated by one distinct from the victim and acting in a private capacity. For the purposes of this article, therefore, account is not taken of suicide, nor of the carrying out of the penalty of death by due process of law.

"The direct killing of an innocent person is, of course, to be reckoned among the most grievous of sins. It is said to happen directly when the death of the person is viewed either as an end attractive in itself, or at any rate is chosen as a means to an end," the Encyclopedia says.

Personal protection is often also considered a justification. The Encyclopedia states: "For the protection of one's own or another's life, limb, chastity or valuables of some moment, it is agreed on all sides that it is lawful for anyone to repel violence with violence, even to the point of taking away the life of the unjust assailant, provided always that in so doing the limits of a blameless defense be not exceeded."

"You are permitted to kill in self-defense," Rabbi Joshua M. Aaronson of Park City's Temple Har Shalom said. "In fact, you are obligated to kill any person that clearly intends your own death. Suicide is more complicated and is clearly prohibited by Jewish law, although many rulings of the rabbis mitigate that, and in general the survivors are treated with great compassion and the deceased is also treated gently. Other gray areas require a rather lengthy discussion.

"Animals are a different category entirely. There is a law about kindness to animals, but clearly killing animals is permitted in Jewish law, though only for a specific purpose (food)," Rabbi Aaronson said.

"'Thou shalt not kill' exhorts us to remember that life has sacred worth," the Rev. Tom Goldsmith of Salt Lake's First Unitarian Church said. "Suicide and animal slaughter are a matter of individual conscience. You are not hurting another human being, for which this commandment was intended. However, we are forced to reflect on the morality of all our murderous actions, even if they pertain to ourselves or animals. How widely this admonishment applies raises an interesting question. Like so much in the Bible, nothing is definitive but forces us to think hard about everything we do in our lives."