According to John Locke, Why is Murder Wrong?

The A.I answer:

"According to John Locke, murder is wrong because it is a violation of the natural law. This law is discoverable by reason and teaches that all people, being equal and independent, have a duty to preserve their own life and, as much as possible, the rest of mankind." 

Further: "God's Property: Locke posits that individuals are the "workmanship" of God and are His property. As such, people do not have the absolute right to destroy themselves or others, as this would infringe upon God's ownership.

• Natural Rights: The law of nature establishes fundamental natural rights, including the right to life. Murder violates this primary right of the victim.

• Duty to Preserve Mankind: Every individual has a duty to preserve not only themselves but also the "rest of Mankind," unless a nobler use (like justifiable self-defense) calls for an exception. Murder is a breach of this duty.

• Social Order: In the state of nature, before the establishment of civil government, the natural law still obligates everyone. Violating this law (e.g., through murder) makes the wrongdoer a danger to others, justifying punishment as a means to restrain them and preserve peace.

While working on this question of the cause of the first law among men, forbidding murder, it occurred to me that Locke was intentionally avoiding the reason given in Genesis- "For God made man in his image.(Genesis 9:6). Worms too are equal, independent, and the property of God, nor were these even given to man for food.

Locke then follows the moderns in refusing to distinguish men and animals, despite basing rights on reason. I would work on this more, as this is a very light reading of Locke. But It occurred that the Declaration bases rights on a self evident principle, and duties such as that to observe the rights of other humans- not only citizens- follow from this. It is self-evident that we have a right to life, it is said, but what is it's basis? Do worms and raccoons not have the same rights? Why?

The rights are the obverse of the image of God that is man. We say this is the same as nous or "intellect," the "eye of the soul," and the basis of reason, though not the same as reason. Man is different in kind from the other animals, and so psychology is demarcated from biology and zoology. The forbidding of murder is the first law in history, and universal among mankind, as though all came from Noah. In the Decalogue, murder is the first law regarding relations between men, as distinct from between men and God- the laws of piety, and this division in the Decalogue- followed by Jesus in his summary of the two laws- love of God and of the neighbor.