Christians, and Christian societies, honour dead bodies, because Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, had one.
We do not abuse the dead.
We do not kick corpses.
Traditional Christians do not encourage cremation.
President Obama made the right call to take out bin Laden, the right call to end torture of prisoners, and was right not to release the bin Laden photograph.
No person who doubts bin Laden’s death will be convinced by a photograph released by the American government. Photos are easily doctored and if both American political parties are lying about the DNA evidence, they will lie about a picture.
Terrorists forced Americans to see evil on 9/11, but our government will not return the favour by showing us the dead body of our foe. We are better than the terrorists. We are civilised.
bin Laden is dead. Nothing is to be gained by flaunting his remains. Justice does not demand revenge, gloating, or cruelty to the bin Laden family. Their evil son, father, and husband has received justice. Let it end at that.
You have a decision to make: double or nothing.
For this week only, a generous supporter has offered to fully match all new and increased donations to First Things up to $60,000.
In other words, your gift of $50 unlocks $100 for First Things, your gift of $100 unlocks $200, and so on, up to a total of $120,000. But if you don’t give, nothing.
So what will it be, dear reader: double, or nothing?
Make your year-end gift go twice as far for First Things by giving now.
