Never again, Lee Greenwood.

There's an old hymn that as a kid I liked to sing; I recall still liking to do so as a young man: The Battle Hymn of the Republic. It was martial, and had a great chorus to it (which I remember being made into a schoolyard jingle, no less. You could do a lot with "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah" if you were creative).

Then Ken Burns came out with his landmark PBS series "The Civil War", and I have refused to sing that song ever since. If it's played at church on some national holiday, I am either silent with bowed head, or I excuse myself and make for the exit. Watching that TV series, I learned for the first time what the song was about, and was appalled at how shamelessly and glibly a hymnwriter could license the support of Almighty God for the Northern Armies to use while Gen. Sherman was burning and killing his way through Georgia. And all this despite President Abraham Lincoln's comments in his second inaugural address regarding the prayers going up from both sides in this war:

"Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other. […] The prayers of both could not be answered—that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes."

Well, three days ago I felt the same abhorrence wash over me as I heard a popular song being played in the background while people celebrated in the streets over the death of Osama bin Laden.

This time it was Lee Greenwood's Proud to be an American. I know right now that I'll never sing it again, and will likely excuse myself and leave whenever I hear it played. What a picture: my countrymen and women exulting in joy over a man's death. How much different is this picture than those we've all seen of militants around the world rejoicing over harm done to Americans or our interests (embassies, businesses, airplanes..)?

Change the flags, change the language, add some automatic weapons to fire in the air… the bloodthirsty sentiments are the same: "There, see? We hurt you. We made you pay."

It's the same ugly sentiment you see at sporting events where fans abuse each other and gloat over victories. It's the same ugly partisanship that you see when a political majority rams through some controversial measure. It's the same self-righteous ugliness that you see when a hard-liner of some religious persuasion tells another that they are going to hell because they believe something else.

"We're right. You're wrong. Simple as that."

Nothing is that simple. And no killing is worth celebrating. Lincoln knew it. Most combat vets know it. Those who have lost loved ones to violence usually know that more deaths do not bring back those whom they've lost. Death, no matter to whom, should bring somber pause, not rejoicing. When we rejoice over someone's death, no matter whose death it is, when we show no empathy for our most universal human limitation (mortality), how different are we than those who rejoiced to see Jesus crucifed, and mocked his suffering? What kind of human beings are we to take joy in the suffering and death of another? Seeing justice done is one thing, but celebrating a killing is another thing altogether.

Some people like to think of us as a Christian nation, founded on the Bible. While I think we are many generations past that era, one only has to look at a couple of passages in the Scripture to see what that "biblical" reaction to bin Laden's death would be. (Hint: it's not wrapping yourself in the flag and shouting for joy.)

Ezekiel 33:11
Proverbs 24:17-18
Matthew 5:43-45

I'm grateful to see that there were at least a few voices of restraint emerging after the initial blood-in-the-water feeding frenzy:


http://www.npr.org/2011/05/03/135927693/is-it-wrong-to-celebrate-bin-ladens-death

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/life/current-events/op-ed/25463-should-christians-celebrate-the-death-of-osama-bin-laden

http://www.newevangelicalpartnership.org/?q=node/124