Anglican Journal reports “sombre reactions to Bin Laden's death from religious leaders”

A lot more here:

Christian leaders cautioned against applauding a death while acknowledging bin Laden’s role in killing others. “Nobody should wish to rejoice at the death of a man, but the world w ill rejoice if recent events prove to be a vehicle to reduce the level of violence and hatred in the world,” a Vatican Council of Bishops official who asked to remain anonymous told ENInews. “We pray for the soul of Osama bin Laden and for the souls of all those killed in violence, and ask God for the blessing of peace.”

It’s odd that the Anglican Church of Canada is obsessed with “doing justice”, yet it doesn’t seem to be too keen on rejoicing at this particular spot of well-deserved justice.

Surely the august organ of the Anglican Church of Canada is not biased in favour of its own parochial, culturally blinkered version of justice?

Why polygamy is bad for women

When a man has many wives, they become disposable. Particularly when the man is a poltroon.

From here:

Osama bin Laden used one of his wives as a human shield during the firefight with U.S. forces at the compound in Pakistan where he was killed, the White House’s counterterrorism chief said Monday.

Was killing Osama bin Laden good?

From here:

“This is a good day for America,” U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday, a day after announcing American forces killed Osama bin Laden in a spectacular lightning raid in Pakistan.

“The world is a better place” with bin Laden dead, Obama said after a ceremony at the White House to honour members of the military.

Those sentiments were widely echoed around the world.

It may have been a good day for America, but was killing Osama: a good act; neither good nor evil, just necessary; evil but a lesser evil than leaving him alive; or just evil?

Predictably, Hamas has decided that killing Osama was wrong, so we can immediately rule that out.

Some Christians seem to be worried that the cries of “USA USA” by rejoicing Americans is a sign that this chanting Western mob is in the same league as the chanting Arab mob that exulted in the devastation of 9/11. While I myself feel little inclination to run around in the street waving my arms in the air no matter what the celebration, this comparison is facile since one mob is celebrating mass murder and the other the death of a mass murderer. Insofar as earthly justice exists at all, the killing of a mass murderer surely falls easily into the category of justice.

So I think killing bin Laden was necessary and a lesser evil than leaving him alive because it served justice. But was it good? I suspect St. Paul would say it was: “The King is God’s minister to do good. If you do evil, be afraid, for he does not wield the sword in vain. He is God’s minister, the avenger of evil deeds.” (Romans 13:3-4).

Western Christianity has become too embarrassed – too nice perhaps – to confront evil; not to confront it, though, it to be complicit in it.

So should Christians rejoice in bin Laden’s death?

I don’t see why not.

A Christian might protest at this point that Jesus tells us we must forgive those who have wronged us. And, of course we must – or, at least we must try. A person whose life has been decimated by bin Laden should, if he is a Christian, do his best to forgive him – even while recognising that he should die. One thing we cannot do, though, is forgive a person on the behalf of someone else; for most of us whose lives have been more or less untouched by bin Laden, to say we forgive him is to indulge in a sentimental, meaningless, vicarious, mealy-mouthed kind of forgiveness to which we are not entitled. It is enough for us simply to be glad he is dead.

I think Sen. Lindsey Graham’s reaction was about right: “we got the bastard.”

 

Osama bin Laden is a CIA agent

It was obvious, really, I’m not sure how I missed it.

From here:

Cuban leader Fidel Castro has claimed Al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden is a bought-and-paid-for CIA agent.

The country’s former president has said that the world’s most wanted terrorist always popped up when former US President George W Bush needed to scare the world, and argued that recently published documents on the internet prove it.

‘Bush never lacked for bin Laden’s support. He was a subordinate.’

Castro said documents posted on the controversial WikiLeaks website ‘effectively proved he (Bin Laden) was a CIA agent.’ He did not elaborate further on the claims.

Conversely, since Obama did Nada during his first term, the economy has gone to pot and the US can no longer afford to pay for new terrorist attacks..