We have all heard the news by now about the alleged death of Osama bin Laden. We have also heard the many and varied responses to this event. The social media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) was rife with comments, many of them from Christians. I found it troubling that Christians made comments in a tone of celebration and victory. In no way do I condone terrorism. I remember the events of 9/11 vividly. But the many issues related to this event should remind us that we need to be very clear not to mix our Christian faith with the actions of our government. If we say “justice has been done,” then we need to ask a series of other questions: How was justice done in killing thousands of innocents that led up to this killing? How was justice done when billions of dollars have been spent while children have not had adequate healthcare, food or education? If it was justice, what kind of justice was it? What is an appropriate Christian response to vengeance? How long will this so-called “perpetual war on terrorism” last? (as a perpetual war, it can never be considered just in the just war tradition w/in Christianity). And what do we make of the missing corpse, supposedly buried at sea? This sounds very fishy to me, albeit conspiratorial (it leaves open too many questions and I don't trust governments). These are just a few issues that emerge with this event.
I think we need to be very careful not to get caught up in this nationalistic fervor. Our allegiances, our focus and our ethics are not those of the U.S. government; we are citizens first of the kingdom of God. So if many Christians join in with the dominant voice of our nation and celebrate a killing of a human being (even one we deem so reprehensible as bin Laden), then it should give us pause. As we continue to sort out all the implications, and the subsequent questions that will still need to be resolved, we will have a lot of work to do, both as Christians and as a nation.
The work of the church, as I see it, is not about celebrating killing, vengeance or war. Our work is to follow Jesus, share God’s love and seek first this kingdom over and against any earthly kingdom, even our own. So as we go through this week, I hope we can temper the fervor with reason and caution.
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Thank you for taking the difficult, unpopular, but morally right stand on this and being willing to speak out. It has made me sad and a little bit sick that most of our country has spent the past day celebrating the killing of someone. No matter how morally justified it was, it was still the distasteful choice of the lesser of two evils.
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