STORY SUMMARY: Ex-military guy has his car break down and wanders into a remote village. A person is tied to a tree about to be stone. The village elder says under the tradition of the community, if there is a stranger in town, they can cast the first stone. The person on the tree was fairly tried and convicted under their laws, but he won’t tell him the crime committed. He does throw the first stone and kills the man instantly.
DISCUSSION: This was a really tough one for the group. On the one hand, we pay taxes and contribute to a justice system that punishes people, but we don’t know what each of them did. How do you know what this person did is worthy of death? How do you know if the justice system in this community is actually just? Does it matter if you are visiting the community, don’t you agree to abide by their laws? Would you need to know more? What if you aren’t allowed to? What if you change the scenario and they torture him until a foreigner can come to town to finish him off? What if your life is on the line if you refuse? Loads of spin offs that make this a really interesting question about cultural morality.
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E12. "A Community of Peers" - Would you cast the first stone?