On Celebrating the Killing of... Osama Bin Laden
I remember two responses from many Christians. One I understood. The other? I rejected with every fiber of my being.
When Osama bin Laden was killed I can remember two distinct responses from people in our country.
One response I totally understood, and kind of agreed with.
The other response I kind of understood, and totally disagreed with.
Allow me to explain…
May 1st, 2011 was a Sunday.
It was just past 8:30pm and my wife and I were working on getting the kids ready for bed. Sundays were my main work days, so I was looking forward to that post-kid-bedtime even more so than usual.
I can’t recall if we watched it live, caught it later that evening, or watched it the next day, but at 8:35pm all TV channels went live to the White House for a special announcement.
President Obama slowly marched toward the podium.
Without even so much as a clearing of his throat, he began.
Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.
Many around the world felt a weight lifted from their shoulders, including (probably) all Americans. Bin Laden was the architect of the 9/11 attacks as well as countless other atrocities. For many Americans he was, you could say, our version of a Hitler or Stalin.
Response #1: Celebrating His Death
In the days and weeks following his killing by Navy Seals, reactions in our country—on both sides of the political aisle—ranged from relief to jubilee. In other words, pretty much everyone agreed: the terror that man exacted upon the world, and the destruction wrought by his ideology and religious convictions, had reached such a pinnacle that no one objected to his removal from this earth.
Even the most ardent pacifists, while no doubt holding fast to their commitment to non-violence, probably didn’t flinch much at his demise.
Online (which was primarily Facebook in those days) the reactions and comments were swift and celebratory. “No one mourns the wicked,” the Ozians sing upon news of the Wicked Witch’s death. It seemed most Americans found their own ways to join the refrain. Not only was no one out there mourning the loss of bin Laden, but most people were celebrating it.
I also noticed how few (if any?) gave disclaimers or softened their comments with things such as, “While I don’t celebrate violence…” or, “I know it’s not Christ-like to be happy about someone getting killed…” No, people just let their relief, their delight, their feelings of thank-God-that-terrorist-is-dead spill from their keyboards with no filter.
So that is the first response I referenced earlier, the one that I totally understood and kind of agreed with. It made all the sense in the world that people would be glad bin Laden was killed. And even though I do my best to live out a pacifist conviction, I too found myself… you might say… unbothered by his demise. I didn’t stand up and cheer, but I did exhale with gratitude.
Evil is real, and sometimes it manifests so intensely in and around one person that of course there would be (at the very least) a feeling of relief when that evil is “dealt with.” It makes sense that we would feel something akin to pleasure when it seems like justice has been served. We want justice. When people are wronged, when people suffer at the hands of uncaring and malicious humans, we know deep in our bones that it is not okay.
Our innate desire for wrongs to be made right is a good and natural instinct.
So while I, personally, may not have been (nor am I today) someone who—you might say—dances on the grave of my enemies, I definitely won’t (and didn’t) shed a tear when bin Laden levels of evil get eradicated.
I will add, however, that if I could have had it my way, if things on May 1st, 2011 went down according to my values, I would’ve preferred a capture, imprisonment, and a reckoning with the destruction he caused. In part because I don’t like killing or violence. But mostly I would’ve preferred that path because I believe more in restorative justice than retributive justice.
Which leads me to…
Response #2: Delight at the Thought of Eternity in Hell
I also saw some Christians online react in a way that really rubbed up against my deeply held beliefs (also as a Christian, mind you). There were many people who expressed some kind of delight at the thought of Osama bin Laden “burning in hell.”
Sorry, y’all. I just can’t go there.
By 2011 I had nearly completed my religious re-orientation away from my Baptist-Evanglical heritage. It had been several years at that point that I had said goodbye to the viewpoint that Hell is an eternal conscious place of torment for the damned after death. Not only did I find that doctrine unBiblical, but I found it profoundly at odds with God as revealed in Jesus.
There is nothing Just (let alone Loving) about someone burning and suffering forever and ever and ever. I don’t care how much evil a person enacted on earth, billions and billions and billions of years (and that’s just the beginning of “eternity”) of suffering is absurdly over the top in terms of punishment fitting the crime.
Anyway, I vividly remember those first few days after the killing of bin Laden and watching online as my fellow Christians both celebrated his death (I get it) AND rejoiced that he is now burning in Hell (I don’t get it).
I recall thinking: You know what would be REAL Justice? Not burning in a lake of fire. No, real Justice would be if bin Laden had to stand there and look each and every person he killed in the eyes, hear their story, see their humanity, and sit with the weight of what he did long enough until he finally felt remorse. When he could eventually get to a place inside of himself where he was sorry for what he did, and he asked forgiveness of each and every person he wronged, well THAT is real and true justice.
(My hunch is that this kind of thinking is where the Catholic idea of Purgatory came from. I’ll have to look in to that more one day.)
That vision for Justice is often called restorative Justice, and it’s what I see when I read the Bible. It’s where my mind goes to when I think about the heart of God. And it’s certainly the kind of Justice I believe makes sense with who Jesus was.
Retributive Justice feels very, well, human. It’s the kind of thing we would think of. Getting even. Paying back. Getting revenge. Etc, etc.
So while I can get on board with the sentiment, “I’m glad that (someone like) bin Laden is no longer alive and terrorizing people,” I wholeheartedly reject the sentiment, “I’m glad that (someone like) bin Laden is experiencing a kind of torture and suffering forever.”
In tomorrow’s post I want to say more about the experience of relief/joy that comes when someone like bin Laden is eradicated.
In the meantime, what do you remember thinking/feeling after the announcement of the killing of Osama bin Laden?
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Thanks for the opportunity to comment! Although I personally wouldn't rejoice at the thought of anyone's death and 'burning in hell' (whatever that may mean), I wouldn't base God's justice or judgement on my or anyone else's feelings and ideas. I well understand why many people (and yourself now, as you share) may find it difficult or impossible to accept the idea of an 'eternal hell', I feel the alternatives (universalim = everybody saved in the end; conditional mortality = temporary punishment) offer more problems than solutions. I am fully convinced God doesn't send 'people' to hell but those unbelivers for whom He did all He could to save them but they 'would not' as the Lord Jesus often said to the Jews. Whatever we believe on 'hell' we should be clear about WHAT Jesus saves us from. If I have a headache and someone gives me a tablet and I am relieved from the pain, I will thank him and offer a coffee, but if I have a deadly desease and someone offers me a transplant and in the course of events he dies, I will be eternally grateful. No amount of works, tears, or time but Only the eternal, infinite, innocent Son of God and His death and resurrection could take away my sin and I shall eternally be grateful. Love from Italy!
It was very mixed emotions. I knew bin Laden was a threat to so many people through the world and also knew that when you take out someone like him, there’s always someone worse. That it might not stop, but get worse. Low key, I’m not sure what’s worse- the world we lived in then or the world that has become. Now we not only have adversaries abroad, but openly and gleefully on our literal front lawns because of the turmoil that has happened since. Case in point: even before bin Laden, his predecessor wasn’t as bad and now we have people in charge where he had control whom are EVEN WORSE. I didn’t know how to feel about his assassination then and I still don’t know how to feel about it. Would we have not gotten a power that literally tries to make women invisible in the Middle East? Would we have made democrats viewed as more weak, faster? Would democrats have found a way to peacefully deal with the turmoil around the world? Would we have prevented or incurred further global economic obliteration? I, like you, am unsure.