What to say about bin Laden from the pulpit?

Osama bin Laden's death a tough subject for the pulpit

By The Associated Press The Times-Picayune

The killing of Osama bin Laden, a man who was the face of evil for Americans for nearly a decade, left Christians, Jews and Muslims relieved, proud or even jubilant. For their religious leaders, it was sometimes hard to know just what to say.

There is at least some dissonance between the values they preach and the triumphant response on the streets of New York and Washington to the death of a human being — even one responsible for thousands of killings in those areas and around the world.

"Justice may have been served, but we Catholics never rejoice in the death of a human being," said the Rev. Stephen Mimnaugh.

He did not mention bin Laden during Sunday's morning Mass at Manhattan's St. Francis of Assisi, the church of the late Rev. Mychal Judge, chaplain of the Fire Department of New York and the first recorded victim of the Sept. 11 attacks in the city.

After Mass, Mimnaugh cited comments published in America, a weekly Catholic magazine. The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest, wrote that "no matter how monstrous" a person is, "as a Christian, I am asked to pray for him and, at some point, forgive him."

Other religious leaders felt compelled to say at least a few words about bin Laden on the first weekend of worship since he was killed. Some focused on moving on and working toward peace, while others spoke approvingly of a death they said marked a blow for justice.

The Rev. David Howard shouted his approval — in a sense — from outside his church in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

"OSAMA BIN LADEN, SATAN AND THE FINAL VICTORY OF JESUS," read the marquee outside Brook Baptist Church, publicizing the sermon Howard started writing hours after he heard that a team of Navy SEALs based in Virginia Beach had killed the al-Qaida leader.

Howard has no doubt that bin Laden was an instrument of Satan brought to justice with the aid of God, who answered the prayers of millions.

"We should pray for bad people, evil people, that when we pray to God he will change their lives. But if he won't change their lives, especially those who have a lot of power to hurt a lot of people, you pray for their end because they're causing so much pain," he said. "You pray somehow God will take them out. The Bible is very clear that God is in control and every person in power is because God put them there. He can put them there, he can keep them there or he can take them out. That's his prerogative."

The leader of one of the largest mosques in the U.S. was equally direct during prayers Friday.

"There is no doubt that this man was a thug, he was a murderer," Imam Hassan al-Qazwini told worshippers at the Islamic Center of America in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. "His hands were stained by the blood of thousands of innocent people — Muslims and non-Muslims alike."

Qazwini, who delivered his sermon in a large, circular hall filled to capacity, said the Quran is clear that someone who kills one innocent person "is doomed to hell forever." And the imam was particularly incensed that bin Laden "committed atrocities against innocent people ... while he was calling 'Allahu akbar,'" or "God is great."

"He's responsible for tarnishing the image of Islam in this country," he said. "We're happy to see the man who caused so much pain for Muslims in this country is gone ... finally."

Before the sermon, Qazwini said Muslims are discouraged from showing jubilation over death, but cheering the news of bin Laden's demise marks an occasion where "justice was served."

At Armitage Baptist Church on Chicago's near west side, Pastor Charles Lyons told his congregation Sunday that sometimes "evil must be stopped."

"We do not rejoice in the death of the man named Osama bin Laden (but) ... truth provides a platform for justice," he said.

Church member Angelia Parker said bin Laden's death should have been a time for contemplation, not cheering in the streets.

"I think that was kind of weird," said Parker, who was passing out roses to mothers after the service to mark the Mother's Day holiday. "It was like, 'Are you kidding me?' We are celebrating this person's death? We didn't celebrate in the streets when Saddam Hussein was killed."

The Rev. Bill Kelly, priest at Saint Mary of the Assumption in Dedham, Massachusetts, near Boston, said he was taken aback by the celebrations because he detected bloodlust. But he added that the emotional reaction is understandable.

"This is 10 years of pent-up anger, hurt, frustration, especially here in the Boston area because the crimes were initiated here," he said, referring to the two planes that took off from Boston before crashing into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

At Second Baptist Church, the oldest black church in South Los Angeles, church member Goward Horton said he was happy about bin Laden's death and didn't think that conflicted with his beliefs.

"We should be allowed to have relief, happiness, joy. Especially if you were touched by what happened on 9/11," Horton said. "Me, personally, I'm not one to take to the streets in celebration over his death, but I understood when people did it."

The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said Tuesday in Los Angeles that although bin Laden may have deserved compassion and even forgiveness as a human being, it is sometimes necessary to take counter-measures.

"Forgiveness doesn't mean forget what happened," he told students at the University of Southern California.

Reform Rabbi Eric Wisnia, of Congregation Beth Chaim, in Princeton, New Jersey, observed that during the Passover holiday that ended April 26, Jews recount the 10 plagues carried out against Egyptian aggressors by dipping their fingers in wine 10 times. But they are forbidden to lick their fingers, lest they take pleasure in the pain of others.

As he left a Quaker meeting in Philadelphia, Fred Koszewnik of Marlton, New Jersey, said he thought the celebrations were "kind of icky."

"Honestly, I'm glad he's dead, but I don't know that's something to celebrate," he said. "If I understand anything about Quakerism, there's something of God in everyone."

Chuck Esser, who was at the same Quaker meeting, said he understands the relief at bin Laden's death — his own nephew was injured in the New York attacks and had to be pulled from the rubble. But he said he wishes the terror leader had been captured and put on trial.

"It's very strange for our country to be celebrating assassinations," he said. He said bin Laden "embodies a lot of evil things, but our response is not in tune with the best traditions of our country and our God."

Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said the Bible marks a distinction between individual Christians, who should pray for and forgive their enemies, and the state, which has a different responsibility. "God says they are to punish the evildoers," he said.

"I take no personal pleasure in Osama bin Laden's death, but the moral symmetry of the universe demands that a person who has perpetrated the terrible crimes against humanity that he's perpetrated deserves to be executed," Land said.

At Congregation Neve Shalom, a Conservative Jewish synagogue in Metuchen, New Jersey, Rabbi Gerald Zelizer said in an interview that according to the Talmud, if someone is trying to kill you, "you are obligated — not permitted — to kill that person before he kills you."

"But that obligation does not carry with it at all the privilege of rejoicing," he added.

As services ended at the synagogue Friday, a heated debate over how to respond broke out. Kathryn Zahler, a compliance administrator from Colonia, New Jersey, said that taking delight in anyone's death feels un-Jewish.

"For what it's worth, he had a family. He's obviously a very evil man. I think there was a sense of relief, but I wasn't celebrating," Zahler said.

But Mindy Epstein, a medical assistant also from Colonia, said she took joy in bin Laden's death, noting that al-Qaida showed no decency when it released a video of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was Jewish, being decapitated in 2002.

"I don't care if that makes me a non-Jew or not," Epstein said. "Put it on pay for view for the (Sept. 11) victims."

In his Saturday morning sermon, Zelizer reminded congregants that the day bin Laden was killed was also Holocaust Remembrance Day. He suggested that the phrase often used in reference to Adolf Hitler might also be appropriate for bin Laden: "May his name be blotted out and his memory forgotten."



By Brock Vergakis, Associated Press

Associated Press writers Verena Dobnik in New York, Tammy Webber in Chicago, Jay Lindsay in Boston, Jeff Karoub in Dearborn, Michigan, Ron Todt in Philadelphia, Josh Lederman in Metuchen, New Jersey, Christopher Weber in Los Angeles and Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.

Profound reflection after Bin Laden's death

>>>I found this post over at the Deacons Bench, one of my favorite blogs.  Deacon Greg saw this on the website Under the Broom Tree by Jim Tighe, a candidate for the permanent diaconate who lost his brother on September 11, 2001.  His article is so profound, so deeply spiritual that I'm posting it here with all credit to Jim and a thanks to Deacon Greg for circulating it.  All I can say is WOW!


Under the Broom Tree
"Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you. He got up and ate and drank...he walked to the mountain of God." 1Kings, 19. We all will spend time under the broom tree.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Gospel of John and Osama Bin Laden

When the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden broke, I was contacted by two radio talk show hosts and a TV reporter wondering if I would like to comment. In the days of yore, I had worked with all three and all three knew of our family loss at the WTC on 9/11. I declined all three. If I had accepted, chances are I would have spoken from today's Gospel.

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved. John 3:16-17.

As a disciple of Christ, my life is given to his work. It is the work of bringing people into the light, not condemning them to the darkness. Osama Bin Laden was always easy to condemn into the darkness. On this issue, it is easier to go with the Philadelphia headline "Got the Bastard," then it is to follow the words of Christ. But I'm going with Christ. This is, as best we know, a lost soul. Nothing to cheer about. That's not what we do.

This is no way a defense of the man. He chose to live in the darkness. Any condemnation comes not from God but from his own choosing, just like the rest of us. He got what he chose, life in the darkness.

When Christ wept for Lazarus, I'm betting he wept for Bin Laden and people like him as well as for all of us who ultimately face death. I bet he wept for them because of the terrible pain caused by their own choice to remain in the darkness. Do I feel a change now that my brother's murderer has been found? Yes, but it's not that false "closure" stuff, but rather a deeper look at my own life and the light and darkness within.

In the face of a man's death, a Christian never rejoices

So says today's Vatican statement on the death of Osama bin Laden.  The entire statement goes on to say: we should reflect on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and man.  What should the Christian response be today that this most hideous man; this terrorist is now dead?

As the news spread last night we were made witness through our televisions and computers of the celebrations that broke out at the White House, Times Square, Ground Zero and many other places.  Were all these Americans rejoicing and celebrating in the death of bin Laden?  Would not the celebrations have been equally joyful if he would have been merely captured?

I have no doubt that among those hearing the news quite a few are rejoicing in his death.  Many, however, may be rejoicing in the end of this saga and are not rejoicing over his death.  And of course many of the spontaneous celebrations are a outflow of the patriotism of many a good American.  I have been moved by how many of my friends have shown great restraint in reminding one another that we should not rejoice in the death of a seemingly unrepentant sinner.  Even Jesus said he desires not the death of a sinner but that he be converted and live.

I do know this; so many silly comments are being made on the web; partisan silliness, attacks on this President and the last, more general attacks on the country not to mention all the crazy conspiracy garbage.  For me I respond thusly; no time today for partisan bickering, no time to assign political motivations; no time to bicker or fight.  This is a time that calls out boldly and loudly for prayer, unity and a renewed sense of concern for one another.

For us Christians, particularly Catholics, we know that this historic event occured on the Feast of Divine Mercy.  In the diary dictated to her by Christ, St. Faustina tells us that Jesus will respond to even the greatest sinner, if he trusts in His mercy.  Bin Laden had this opportunity too; if he did not take it then he leaves this world with God's justice, not ours.

So today I choose to be reflective today, thinking not so much about Osama Bin Laden but our troops, the men and women who died innocently at the hands of these terrorists and a world that would be so much better off if we just surrendered fully and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.