WildAlaska said:
Thou shall not commit murder
Nice attempt at baiting...
Murder (transient verb) from Merriam-Webster
1 : to kill (a human being)
unlawfully and with premeditated malice
2 : to slaughter wantonly
Legal technicalities aside, if a conflict arises wherein another person presents a grave threat to my life or safety, or that of my family (or pehaps others), then no, I don't feel a moral obligation to retreat. The moral obligation is to prevent him from causing me great bodily injury and/or death.
There is, as Col. Cooper explained, a moral imperative to stand up to evil and defeat it. The more this happens, the safer a society will be. Defeat can be as simple as calling the police quickly and aiding in the prosecution or using lethal force when called for.
With that said, where I might
feel a moral obligation to retreat is dependent upon known circumstances. That guy standing in the street screaming like a lunatic while waving a sword can be handled by simply staying away until the police arrive.
¹ Until he starts to chase after people. At that point, exigent circumstances dictate stopping him from causing injuries.
¹
Or via the "Indiana Jones" school of threat management.