Churches’ responses to the assassination of Osama Bin Laden

My post yesterday on Osama Bin Laden generated the most traffic and comments this blog has ever seen. There has been some great discussion going on. In this post, I wanted to widen the discussion a bit by collecting the responses of some of the different churches around the world that I think have been good.

The Catholic church was one of the first to produce a statement:

In the face of a man’s death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred

The Methodist Church in the United Kingdom produced a very measured response that ended with the call to work towards peace and justice:

Osama Bin Laden favoured an ideology that was destructive over the principles of basic humanity and mainstream Islam. He took responsibility for and celebrated the 3,000 deaths of 9/11 as well as other atrocities, and his language of intolerance lives on. Some like to speak of a “War on Terror” but references to war are ultimately unhelpful.

The URC posted a  hymn by Andrew Platt which includes the following words:

We cannot gloat: a time for grief,
another mother’s son is dead,
and if that son has killed and maimed,
it is the better least is said;
but let us mourn for all the loss,
and stand in shadow of the cross.

The URC also get double points because Kim Fabricius, URC minister in Swansea, did a great interview on BBC Radio Wales talking about justice as reconciliation in the Christian sphere. This can be heard on iPlayer for the next seven day (starting from eight minutes thirty). He also mentions that the trial would be embarrassing for the US because of other stuff that would come out about Bin Laden’s involvement with the CIA before the war – and mentions Eichmann, which is never a bad thing.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:

The death of Osama bin Laden is an occasion for solemn remembrance. We remember the lives of all whose deaths resulted from his choosing hatred and violence. We stand with those who continue to mourn the death of loved ones while giving thanks for their lives, their love and their faith. We also continue to hold in prayer all whose service in the military, in government and in humanitarian and peacemaking activities contribute to a safer and more prosperous world.

All of which comes in sharp contrast to the Gospel Coalition’s press statement who predictably put out an ill-judged, macho statement:

Though the comparison is by no means perfect, and though it is on a much smaller scale, I tend to think that we can rightly grieve that Osama bin Laden opposed the true and living God and will be punished accordingly. But we also can rightly rejoice in the defeat and judgment upon people who are evil–and he was clearly evil and deserving of every punishment earth can give.

Apart from anything else, I am dying to know when the American army became the arm of the true and living God.