There's a difference in mass-murder and punishment. The difference is that mass-murder is a hate crime and doesn't give you a choice and punishment is not a hate crime and gives you a choice.
I'd like to learn understanding what 'choice' establishes a difference between punishment and mass murder. Can you explain? I give you some examples.
A dictator sentences people who oppose him to prison camps, where they eventually die. A god sends people who don't believe in him to hell where they'd burn to death if they weren't already.
Second example: A dictator kills all people of Jewish ancestry. A god kills all firstborn male children of Egyptian ancestry.
I have problems to understand the basic difference in the examples. I have maybe a choice between opposing a dictator or not, but I have no choice between believing in a god or not, or between being male and of Egyptian ancestry or not. And even if I had a choice, it's still mass murder as far as I understand. But maybe I'm just stupid. Can you help?
