Between the two phrases, "I never once proclaimed that killing is ethical" and "I never once proclaimed that killing was ethical", I believe the former is grammatically correct, although I'm not completely sure.
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Both are acceptable, but "backshifting" the verb in the dependent clause to match the independent clause would sound more natural: I never once proclaimed that killing was ethical. – Tinfoil Hat Mar 18 '21 at 04:16
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You can simplify the sentences to help determine this:
- Killing is ethical.
- Killing was ethical.
Either of these could be correct, but they have different meanings. In the second sentence, I’d expect there to be some additional information about when it was ethical, such as “Killing was ethical in the 1800s”.
If the intent is to say “I never once said killing is ethical today”, the first would be more appropriate. In this case, is/was applies to the state of ethical killing, not to when you made the proclamation.
I suppose you could also say “Killing was ethical today” and that is grammatically correct as well, but then you’ve got The Purge and I don’t think anyone wants that.
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