Never before has the world experienced so many contemporaneous acts of violence, leading to death and destruction everywhere.
The widespread horrors being enacted in numerous parts of today’s world have roused the international community to denounce the dire situation, which shows no sign of diminishing. All appearances to the contrary, the commandment “You shall not kill” (Ex. 20:13)–preserved in the sacred texts of the Jews, in the doctrine of the Catholic Church, and echoed in the teachings of Islam–remains valid today, urging human beings to respect and promote the life of every single person.
Thus it came almost spontaneously to the organizers of this year’s Day of Jewish-Christian Dialogue to choose the sixth word of the Decalogue as this year’s theme. Observance of this Day (to be held on 17 January) was started in 1990 by the Ecumenical Commission of the European Episcopal Conference.