Celebrating the Death of Bin Laden

Osama Bin Laden is dead. As Commander in Chief, the President and Special Forces under his command are to be commended for eliminating this man’s ability to deal in death and destruction. What happens to Bin Laden now is in God’s hands and I am content to keep it that way. What is in question now is how we, as a Nation, respond to this news.

             It is one thing to breathe a sigh of relief that one of the most dangerous men in modern history is dead and can no longer unleash his terroristic evil on the world. It is another thing to turn death into a celebration. Understandably pleased at the news of Bin Laden’s demise, revelers have gathered across the country and most notably in front of the White House and at Ground Zero.

            Rejoicing in spilled blood and celebrating the finality of death was fuel behind much of what drove Bin Laden and his terrorist organization. Images of revelers dancing in the street rejoicing in the senseless slaughter of thousands on 9-11 were horrible to watch. Yet, I also recall that such media images served to galvanize American resolve for justice and retribution.

            The retribution began nearly a month later when, on October 7, 2001, US forces launched Operation Enduring Freedom. It continued this weekend when the elusive Bin Laden was finally killed. It will likely continue for some time as the beleaguered Al Qaida regime struggles to regain its legitimacy without its spiritual leader.

            From a political perspective, massive celebrations and mindless dancing in the streets reveling at the death of a spiritual leader—albeit one deemed by most Muslims and Christians and evil spiritual leader—will do nothing but embolden his followers.

            From a spiritual perspective, the reality may be even more serious. As a Christian, my mind turns to King David of the Bible. When faced with the death of his arch enemy, the psychotic and destructive King Saul, David did not rejoice or revel in his death. Rather he mourned the fact that conflict had risen to the level where death was the only solution. Rather than see political killing as a point of celebration, David recognized it for what it truly was—a stain on the integrity of the human spirit and affront to that which was created in God’s image.

            As a nation, the most dignified and faithful response we can have to the reality of Bin Laden’s death is somber appreciation for what has happened. Celebratory antics may feel good in the moment but they run the danger of making us no better than the man whose life was dedicated to reveling in the deaths of others.

            Bin Laden is dead. Rather than celebrating his demise with an arrogant presumptive nature that we are lords over death, it is now time to come to prayer as a Nation and collectively seek God’s guidance to work for a world where death is no longer necessary to bring peace. 

Easter's over ... now what?

            So, the tomb is empty and Jesus rose from the dead. Now what?

            I’ll tell you what. It is Tuesday morning and the four day weekend holiday for the schools is over. Most businesses were open yesterday and by today the old routine is back in full swing. But, considering the Easter Weekend past, is anything different?

            One of the dangers of being nearly 2,000 years removed from the pivotal miracle of Christianity is that it can be really easy to take it for granted. The Easter pageantry broke forth Easter morning in full splendor. Church attendance had its usual Easter increase. The triumphant story of the Empty Tomb was told. Joyously triumphant proclamations of “He is Risen” filled church worship liturgies. Truly, it was a wonderful Easter Sunday!

            Was anything different on Monday morning? Is today just like any other Tuesday? Will the remainder of the week be just like any other week?

            How many Christians will see the world through transformed and renewed eyes after Easter? How many Christians rise from the penitent customs of Lent to live a transformed life in the Resurrected Christ? How many Christians walk away from the deadly and life-destroying behaviors just as Christ walked away from the empty tomb never to return again?

            Is it harsh to suggest that if Easter is merely a pageant of celebration that does not change lives we have missed the whole point of Christ’s resurrection? 

            Although the four Gospel accounts of Christ’s resurrection share uniquely different details about that miraculous morning so many years ago, they all contain a message of profound action. Witnesses of this incredible miracle are expected to alert a world that has been radically and permanently changed.

            In many ways the worship and pageantry of Easter Sunday in the various traditions and customs of our churches are means by which we too can share in the wonder, surprise, and awe of that first Easter morning. Yet, in so doing, the same expectation placed before those who were the first to know of God’s most incredible miracle extends to all of us who experience the miracle anew in worship tomorrow morning!

            Romans 6:2 further illustrates this profound truth. Essentially, Paul challenges us with the idea that if, in Christ and through the annual remembrance of his triumphant resurrection, we proclaim to be dead to sin, why then would we choose to continue living in sin?

            So the challenge lies before all of us! As this week progresses will the only legacy of Easter be an unusual quantity of hard boiled eggs and baskets filled with candy? Or, will the legacy of Easter’s celebration be lives so radically transformed that the whole world is a new and better place to live?

            Christ has made the potential for transformation a reality. Yet the choice is ours alone. Just as God choose to give life to Jesus, let us also choose that life and all the transformation that comes with it! 

Fukushima and the Future of Nuclear Energy

My Grandfather, the late R.C. Rogers was a very wise and intuitive man. An electrician by trade, he was stationed with the Navy in the South Pacific in August of 1945 when atomic weaponry brought about the end to World War II. For the remainder of his life, Granddad credited the Bomb with saving his life. Yet he also regretted it.

My father recalls that a few years after Granddad retuned from the war, he would say that he regretted the Atomic Bomb because he believed the incredible power and potential of nuclear energy would forever be tainted because it was introduced to the world through the destructive power of atomic weaponry.

Now, some 66 years after Japan bore the destructive power of the atom in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the island nation has new challenges brought on by the catastrophe at Fukushima. Combine the ghastly images of atomic destruction from World War II with the vivid memories of 1979’s Three Mile Island accident and the 1986 Chernobyl Disaster; there is good reason why the world is taking a critical look at the nuclear industry.

It is still too soon to evaluate the long-term effect of the Fukushima crisis but the historical evidence of the past can really help us in the debate.

In 2000 the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) released the comprehensive results of a long-term study following Chernobyl. The only fatalities directly attributed to radiation exposure were limited to employees and first responders who came in nearly direct contact with the burning nuclear reactor during the emergency or participated in immediate cleanup efforts.

As of 2005, only 50 total deaths were directly attributed to these exposures. This exceptionally low death rate stood in stark contrast to estimates of hundreds of thousands of presumed deaths or acute illnesses believed to be brought on by the disaster. The lead researcher, Dr. Fred A. Mettler Jr. determined that the greatest danger resulting from the accident was fear and politically motivated propaganda; not radiation.

Nuclear power plants do possess a significant danger. Yet science and medical research indicate that danger may not be as great as politics and fear may dictate they should be.

A second point to consider in the debate surrounding the safety of nuclear energy is the role modern technology and research play in the industry. The earliest safety feature in nuclear history was nothing more than a rope and an axe. In 1942 Nuclear pioneer Enrico Fermi initiated the world’s first controlled nuclear reaction—the birth of the nuclear power industry. In the event they lost control of the reactor, he had a man stationed with an axe ready to cut the rope that would lower cadmium rods into the reactor to stop the reaction.

Today, with 65 years of incredible research and development behind us, nuclear safety is greater than it has ever been. The Fukushima plant was actually designed with incredible safety features. The fact that it was subjected to one of the worst earthquakes and tsunamis on record is significant. For all the problems it has today, we must remember what it had to endure! We also need to consider that it was originally designed with technology that is now 40 years old. Any plant designed and built today would have significantly advanced safety designs and would have likely survived even the March 11 disaster.

The truth is that Nuclear Energy will always contain danger and the potential of a nuclear accident is a reality that regulators and engineers will always need to consider. Fear, irrational politics, and distorted propaganda are perhaps the greatest dangers when it comes to nuclear. The industry remains virtually untouchable as the best source for clean, efficient, environmentally friendly, and inexpensive power to serve a world thirsting for more and more energy.

Grandfather was wise beyond his years. That electrician rightly predicted that fear would inhibit the reasonable development of a much-needed industry. Three Mile Island proved his fears true as our nation foolishly put a halt to nuclear development—a mistake we are just now on the verge of correcting! As the world debates Fukushima and the future of the nuclear industry in light of this latest disaster, let us all hope that reason, science, and objectivity will prevail where once fear, propaganda, and irrational politics once dominated.