Stoning is certainly not the most efficient way to kill, but it does have a couple of advantages over most other forms of public execution. First, stoning enables the entire community to participate in the killing. Second, stoning allows the individual to exonerate himself. Everyone throws a rock, so everyone participates. But the individual is allowed to tell himself, “It wasn’t me who killed; I just threw one rock.” In other words, stoning is a way for the community to participate in collective murder and lie to itself about it.
