My first reaction to hearing Bin Laden was killed was sadness. My thoughts were of the three thousand people that died on 9/11. I thought of those forced to leap from the tower. I thought of those calling loved ones from planes. I thought of the firemen running into the WTC.
And then I thought, “Yesssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!! The bastard’s dead!!” If my mind could fist pump and do a dance mine did. I had to remind myself that a human being has died. A human being who had a lot of bad things on his soul. And I felt bad for dancing, if only metaphorically. But I’m having a hard time feeling too bad.
I am proud as heck of our armed forces doing their job better than anyone else in the world. I’m proud that Presidents Bush and Obama never stopped searching (even when I thought neither of them was really looking for him too hard.) And I’m glad that we got him. He needed getting. This sends a message to radical Muslims all around the globe. If you come after us we will come after you. And we won’t stop coming after you. Not in one year. Not in five. Not ever.
And then my mind went to issues like wondering if this would help Obama’s reelection chances. I really hope not. But that’s not what this day is for. This is a Lee Greenwood day. It’s an “I’m Proud to be an American” on the cd player sung at the top of your voice. Maybe even a little Toby Keith.
This video is kinda’ cool too as people at the Phillies/Mets game started hearing the news, chants of USA USA start popping up. Kinda’ cool.
The cadets at West Point react to the news here:
I’m interested in your guy’s thoughts and reactions to the news.
May 3, 2011 at 3:15 am
@Bryan Boyle. Yes, Bin Laden is met by the 3,000+ persons whose lives were taken from them at his orders.
May 3, 2011 at 4:58 am
Some of you are a bunch of phony Christians calling yourselves Catholics. You curse our President, then put on the phony merciful-god-speak referring to Bin Laden. You stop at nothing to politicize every aspect of the Catholic faith, then commit grave injustices against human beings JUST because they may not share the same faith or political views as you…AS IF THE MAGISTERIUM EVEN TOOK POLITICAL STANCES…remember, the Church instructs us infallibly in matters of FAITH AND MORALS, NOT republican politics! I've had it with all your holier-than-thou crap living in your loser know-it-all ignorant world. I hope God opens your hearts; even though all of you deserve to burn in hell for your ignorant injustices against fellow humans who don't share your loser republican views. Bye.
May 3, 2011 at 4:27 pm
Then how about a sociological and theological spin, anonymous? One cannot ignore the roots of the problem:
http://feminine-genius.typepad.com/femininegenius/2011/05/consider-the-family-structure.html
May 3, 2011 at 11:38 pm
My first (and continuing) reaction is, "Well, they finally got the old bastard. Good." Beyond that I can't manage the fist-bumps and celebrations some Americans have been indulging in, because I fear that there are people just as evil and just as crazy (if not more evil and more crazy) behind Bin Laden. No one man can do such monstrous things alone. He had help, and unfortunately there are still too many people throughout the Middle East willing to help his cause. This war is not over by a long shot, but this is a significant step in the right direction. Congratulations to the military and intelligence personnel who tracked him down and gave him what he deserved.
May 4, 2011 at 6:59 pm
When I read comments like Fr. Erik's, I am convinced that contemporary Catholicism either is apostate or has lost its moral compass — and I was baptized and raised as a Catholic.
Let me ask you all something: Did Jesus pray for Judas' soul after Judas' committed suicide? At the Last Supper, Jesus offered Judas final chances to repent, though He knew Judas would betray Him. Judas refused. The rest, as they say, is history.
Praying for bin Laden's soul not only is an insult to his victims (btw, I don't see any suggestions that we pray for them, sadly). It's an abomination before a holy, righteous God Whom Scripture portrays as the Ultimate Defender of the weak, vulnerable and oppressed (read Isaiah sometime).
Remember that for such people as bin Laden, murdering the innocent is an act of God so repentance, in their eyes, would be an act of apostacy! Do you seriously think that a holy and righteous God will forgive the unrepentant who take His Name in vain by exploiting it justifying murder?
Moreover, Fr. Erik, your suggestion reeks of the worst kind of spiritual narcissism. I should pray for the soul of an unrepentant evil man because it's good for me. Absurd! You want to do some real good? Pray for the conversion of Muslims! Or is that too "theologically incorrect" for you?
This kind of thinking makes me understand the Church's lack of support for victims of murder and clerical sex abuse. A warped kind of moral equivalence that equates the perpetrators of evil with their victims has infected Church leadership; the late Pope's arbitrary (and successful) attempt to revise centuries of teaching on capital punishment for murder illustrates that moral equivalence perfectly.
This Church is ripe for divine judgement. It has been ever since it sacrificed its Petrine calling on the altar of power, prestige, wealth and secular influence centuries ago.
May 5, 2011 at 4:43 am
@Joseph Hippolito. Who can know if Bin Laden repented before his death? No one. Even Hitler may have repented before his death. People do not know. The heart break for Jesus Who died for all men's souls. In repudiating the death penalty or capital punishment, John Paul II was not repudiating Divine Justice, only the need for Divine Justice, no premeditated cold-blooded murder, no homicide, no death penalty. The need for Bid Laden to be brought to Justice is obvious in that he had not repented. A truly repented murderer will expire with grief over his crime, as Cain did when he said to God: "They will kill me on sight" Cain knew he deserved death for his killing of Abel. God put a mark on Cain, the cross.
It is not possible to know, so, we must pray the rosary for peace for all men's souls. and those who know suffer in silence.
May 5, 2011 at 4:49 am
@Joseph Hippolito again: Allah was turned into a god of no mercy. Allah has no begotten, beloved son to love. Allah has no beloved son to love him. Bin Laden followed a futile and impostrous god of his own making, a god of no mercy, no love. Can there be Justice in a god of no love? no mercy? Bin Laden repudiates the truth that man was created in Love, condemned in Justice and redeemed in mercy.
May 5, 2011 at 4:57 am
Did Jesus pray for Judas' soul after Judas betrayed Him? Jesus died on the cross for Judas' soul. Jesus Christ's whole life on earth was a prayer to His Father in heaven for each and every one of us. The question that you, Joseph Hippolito must ask is: Did Judas accept Jesus' prayer for him, Christ's mercy and love expressed in the crucifixion and death of Christ, and Jesus' resurrection? Saint Peter did.
May 7, 2011 at 7:49 pm
Mary De Voe, several points:
1. Judas was most likely dead when Christ was crucified; St. Peter obviously was not. That makes a difference. When Christ asked His Father to "forgive them; they know not what they do," He was talking about living people who did not recognize Him as anything but another criminal. Judas knew better. Jesus reached out to him. Judas rejected that outreach. No amount of sentimentality or revisionist theology can change that.
2. Bin Laden didn't turn Allah into a "god of no mercy." The Muslim Allah is a god of no mercy. Why do you think Muslim clerics have a hard time condemning suicide attacks against even their own adherents, let alone against non-Muslims? Allah is not Yahweh. Go to the library or do an internet search for an article entitled, "What Kind of Religioin is Islam?" It appeared in the May 2004 edition of Commentary magazine.
3. Repentance is not just saying "I'm sorry;" it's a committment to rejecting sin. Hitler actually provides a good example. Before his suicide, he wrote a political testament in which he ordered his successors to "continue the struggle against international Jewry." He had three copies made and distributed by couriers. If Hitler had repented, he would have issued an order countermanding that testament and demanding its return. He never did that. How do we know? Historical evidence is plentiful for the Nazi period, including Hitler's final hours.