Osama’s death prompts mixed reactions
Symon Hill reports on responses to the death of Osama bin Laden
Faith groups and religious leaders have cautioned against celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden. Some have also been critical of the killing and warned that it is unlikely to make the world safer.
There were initial scenes of jubilation in the United States at the weekend as US president Barack Obama insisted that bin Laden’s death ‘should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity’.
The Vatican was one of the first religious institutions to respond, stating that bin Laden was responsible for ‘causing the deaths of innumerable people and manipulating religions for this purpose’. But the Vatican’s statement insisted that ‘a Christian never rejoices’ at death but works for ‘the further growth of peace and not of hatred’.
Quakers were among those with broader concerns. Some have suggested that ‘assassinating’ bin Laden may not have been the right course of action. ‘Osama bin Laden organised many atrocities, but I would question the right of any state to summarily ‘eliminate’ any person and dump the body in the sea,’ wrote Ken Veitch of East Cheshire Area Meeting in a letter to the Friend (see letters).
Bin Laden’s death should also call UK and US foreign policy into question, according to Alan Wilson, the Church of England’s bishop of Buckingham. He pointed out: ‘The billions spent and hundreds of thousands killed in conventional war in Iraq, and even the fourth Afghan War, seem to have had nothing at all to do with his demise’.
Muslim peace activist Salma Yaqoob, a city councillor in Birmingham, said she would not be mourning bin Laden. She said: ‘He claimed to defend Muslims, but his actions simply brought devastation and misery to countless Muslims across the world’. She added that Western leaders had played into bin Laden’s hands with wars that ‘gave succour to bin Laden’s narrative that the West was really engaged in a war against Islam’.
Religious responses in the USA have been more varied. Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who relies heavily on Christian support, said that ‘decent people the world over’ should ‘cheer the news’ of bin Laden’s death. Christopher Morgan of the Gospel Coalition insisted that Christians ‘can rightly rejoice in the defeat and judgment upon people who are evil’.
In contrast, the American Christian writer Brian McLaren said that the image of jubilant crowds ‘does not reflect well on my country’. He added: ‘Joyfully celebrating the killing of a killer, who joyfully celebrated killing, carries an irony that I hope will not be lost on us. Are we learning anything, or simply spinning harder in the cycle of violence?’
Comments
The killing of Osama Bin Laden was probably the easier of the difficult options which faced Barrack Obama. Had Bin Laden been detained, held pending trial, tried and sentenced the security issues would have been immense. And it is all too easy to be cynical and see the killing as an action which gives a President whose popularity with his electorate is low a boost in the polls. William Penn said A good end cannot sanctify evil means, nor must we ever do evil that good may come of it”. Was the summary execution an evil means to bring about a good end? An opportunity to demonstrate to the world what separates those who value life from the terrorist has been lost.”
By erniev on 5th May 2011 - 18:27
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