"Do not harm unless there is no other way!"

Secular students of ethics say that instead of saying, “Do not harm others unless there is no other way”, we must say, “”Do no harm.” The reason is that all evil people who have done terrible things say the first. The pope says that when his contraception ban spreads AIDS that there is no other way. He claims that encouraging AIDS is better than allowing condoms. Hitler said that the Jews had to be destroyed so that Germany could progress forever and that this vision justified their deaths in the long run.

We all accept that it is not enough to believe certain terrible actions are absolutely necessary and what would fit more in that category than: "God has a good reason for allowing all this evil and temptation and suffering"? You need to know why. The doctrine smoothes it for evil people who dress up their schemes as good or serving a good purpose. When religion says God has a plan it really means the people have this plan whether they realise it or not and it is them who will bring it about. God's plan is a plan about people so it ends up being about the people. The notion that evil leads to good or can do is where tyranny starts. It is safer to reject the concept until you see proof.

To be really true to the principle of not doing harm you have to deny belief in God and discourage it for if there is a God then this implies that “Do not harm others unless there is no other way” is true for God practices it. 

God would say he made the AIDS virus for a good purpose. So it follows that he is harming others for a good reason.

If harming others for a good reason is a bad principle, then the God notion is terrible as it empowers it. It is bad enough to use it as a human principle but downright evil to argue that an all-good God endorses it. A bad principle is made worse by bringing God in to justify it. The more that is done to justify a bad principle, the nastier the justification is.

Thinking, "Do no harm", commits yourself to avoiding any loopholes or possible loopholes.   “Do not harm others unless there is no other way” is bad psychologically for it softens it in your head.  See the point?

The other problem with  “Do not harm others unless there is no other way” is that it sees life and the world in terms of progress.  It buys into the nonsensical belief that things are always getting better.  In fact they get better or worse all the time.  It is doing what is best in the present time that matters not some future oriented good purpose.

People saying they do evil because there is no other way only mean they THINK there is no other way.  And if there is a God of the unexpected then what? When people talk about God's plan and purpose they mean their own plan and purpose.  They play God in the name of God.  Even if God has a purpose then their making it their own means there is no difference if it is ONLY their own.  It is still about them.