If a majority of citizens voted to legalize murder, would the government be right or wrong in doing so?

The majority once supported the institution of slavery.

Morality means NOT HARMING OTHERS. If you can convince most people that something immoral is moral, it's still immoral.

If we take a non-specific government's function to be that it represents the will of the people then such legislation, if made by the correct application of law, would be legitimate. What do you mean by 'right or wrong'--are we talking legality or morality?

"Should they legalize it because the people have spoken?"

--This depends on the laws of the country. Is this vote a referendum on the subject of murder? What is the context? There have been numerous occasions where governments have not enacted the will of the majority. What sort of government are we talking about? The United States government (for example), or a hypothetical one?

"If so, is majority vote ever "wrong"?"

--According to whom? Those in favour of legalizing murder presumably feel that they are morally in the right, though I would disagree. Whose view are you requesting here?

"And if not, when is it acceptable to overrule the majority and when is it not?"

--Depends on the circumstances.

Rather than "right" or "wrong" it would be impractical. Morality is a hard thing to tack down with any simple definition. In general terms, it stems from our innate nature to have empathy for others (within our own groups at least), which makes living in groups (which is safer) more feasible. Of course everyone in any particular group would have to come to a consensus on what the rules would be. This is why we have laws.

Here's how I imagine your scenario would turn out:

If murder was made legal (for some weird reason), our country would probably break down into smaller tribes or clans of trust. Within these smaller groups would be an agreement among the members to not kill each-other, for survival reasons if nothing else. Now continue this scenario for a bit. Tribes and clans would eventually make alliances with others, providing more safety and resources for all concerned. The bigger tribes would flourish and eventually we would have a single governing body where murder would be illegal. It's a survival issue. We individually have an aversion to murder because that trait is what has allowed us to survive.

The government would have to follow democratic views. There are always majority opinions being overturned. This happens when small groups raise awareness - see the civil rights movement. I am currently campaigning against the rights of Jews and Muslims to be excluded from the law which states food animals must be killed quickly and humanely and against my daughter being taught in school that God kills children in a good way. I am in Britain. In the US you have achieved that last aim and we will get there too, I am sure. Murder has never been legalised but the definition of murder has been changed a lot - over here abortion is no longer called murder and executing starving children for stealing food would be considered murder but 200 years ago the reverse was true.

Yes, the majority of people may be completely wrong about something. For instance, not so long ago, the majority of Americans believed it should be illegal for interracial couples to marry. In India, Gandhi felt strongly enough about the unjust nature of certain laws that he protested against them using nonviolent resistance (e.g., the law against making one's own salt from the sea).

Also, (just to play devil's advocate for a moment) there are those who would argue that, by legalizing capital punishment, the government has already legalized murder.

The "when" is necessarily an individual decision, for only one's own moral compass can tell when it is time for peaceful opposition to unjust governance.

Let's see. I'm opposed to the mass murder of innocents America is committing under the guise of war.

It doesn't matter that it's WRONG.

Unless someone else starts it, we shouldn't get involved. But the majority were for it so those of us who think it was a BAD decision, still have to pay for it (even though providing HC...gee, that's communism (eye roll)

~atheist, taoist

edit: morality is partially instinct and partially society

IE: I completely see the 'reasoning' behind human sacrifice...(assuming the sacrificed is actually a sacrifice, not a way to get rid of POWs. I couldn't do it myself and I'm fine with it being outlawed. As far as I'm concerned, if people can be taught to believe that a loving deity just sits by while people, especially children, die/suffer EVERY day since time immemorial, then I could see how people could really believe that sacrificing an important human would actually accomplish something.

@ callous atheism, your silly book (Bible) says life begins with breath and there's even a verse in the OT about children under 1 not counting when doing a headcount. So, aborting a fetus is hardly murder. Read your book!

@ mike, we seem to have broken down into 'tribes' using political reasons. (we're just not allowed to murder them!) ;-) lol

Interesting conundrum...if the law of the land IS majority rule, then the government *should* in theory follow the will of the majority...

However, in my country, the majority voted against our sitting prime minister, it's just that we have so many parties on the left running & only one on the right...so in my country minority often rules...

If the majority is crazy or wrong or whatever, that would in most majority rule type countries require constitutional change, which is harder to pass than an elephant through a straw.

Governments can act contrary to moral law to preserve order under specific circumstances. Legalizing murder is not one. Failing to consider contraceptives contraband and legalizing divorce are typical examples of the government doing this.

The person committing murder, whether it is legal or not, is sinning.

Capital punishment is not murder, though the morality of capital punishment is in dispute.

Wrong. The majority can be wrong as in ancient Italy when the majority of the people approved of the games where people were fed to lions and gladiators fought to the death just for the entertainment of the people

Murder is legalized, as per the will of the majority of the citizens.