As Christians Should We Celebrate a Death?

On May 2nd, the morning after we received the news that Bin Laden was killed I realized that what I was thinking would not be accepted by many people. To celebrate the death of any individual is somehow wrong. Was / had he turned into a monster? Yes! But as Christians we are told and are suppose to believe that everyone is a child of God. We would be well served to reflect on how anyone can become what Ben Laden had become. A possible answer to that may be that when anyone or any religion or any faction of a religion decides to hate it is the start down a road that leads to even greater hate and destruction. This is probably what Ben Laden allowed to happen. He took one of the world's great Abrahamic - monotheistic religions and twisted it toward hate. This was embraced by a small faction and we saw the result of this on9/11/01 and since. As Christians, if we are not careful, we too can allow hate to motivate us. Indeed some have. Examples of this can be seen in history as Nazi Shinheads, the KKK,and during the 1930s as isolationists. Caution is called for in our reactions. Caution is called for in our jubilation. We need not go down the same road as Bin Laden.

Having written my thoughts in a notebook, that you see above, I was pleased to see on an NPR post on Facebook the following story. Perhaps my thoughts are not so lonely after all.

Is It Wrong To Celebrate Bin Laden's Death?

by Linton Weeks

A crowd gathers outside the White House early Monday to celebrate President Obama's announcement that U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden.

May 2, 2011

Impromptu celebrations erupted near the White House in Washington and ground zero in New York when news of Osama bin Laden's death was reported and tweeted.

Laura Cunningham, a 22-year-old Manhattan reveler — gripping a Budweiser in her hand and sitting atop the shoulders of a friend — was part of the crowd at ground zero in the wee hours Monday. As people around her chanted "U-S-A," Cunningham was struck by the emotional response. She told New York Observer: "It's weird to celebrate someone's death. It's not exactly what we're here to celebrate, but it's wonderful that people are happy." …To read the balance of this article go to: http://www.npr.org/2011/05/02/135927693/is-it-wrong-to-celebrate-bin-ladens-death

Guns and the church's moral duty

By Vicki Gray, January 28, 2011

[Episcopal News Service] Once I was a Foreign Service officer, a political officer trained to look at a host society and try to understand what makes it tick.

After many years spent living abroad, I've become accustomed to looking at my own country in much the same way: as an outside observer, seeking to make sense of an often-jumbled mosaic. And one thing I've always stumbled over -- that makes no sense to me -- is America's obsession with guns and our inability reasonably to regulate their possession.

How can one make sense of such inaction in a country where there are 90 guns for every 100 people -- man, woman, or child -- our nearest competitors being Yemen, a country afflicted by tribal strife and occupied in part by al Qaeda (61 guns per 100), and Switzerland, where every adult male is required by law to own a rifle as part of a well-regulated national militia (46 per 100)? Why do we tolerate more gun deaths every week on our city streets than on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq combined? How do we explain an annual rate of gun deaths 20 times higher than in any other industrialized democracy?

To read the balance of this article go to: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_126774_ENG_HTM.htm

Karen Armstrong Builds A Case For God

In a recent interview of Karen Armstrong by Terry Gross on National Public Radio Ms Armstrong talks about her concepts of God and religion. Her comments are thought provoking and, some would say, controversial. If, however, one is willing to approach her concepts with an open mind (to use a current popular phrase and think outside the box) the interview is well worth reading, or listening to if you link to the audio version. The transcript can be accessed by going to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112968197.

I would suggest getting in a quiet place, alone if possible to listen to and think (meditate?) about what is contained in this transcript. As waitresses all seem to say after they have served you a meal, "Enjoy!"