Religious leaders react to death of bin Laden

After President Obama announced that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
had been shot dead in Pakistan, ebullient crowds gathered outside the
White House and at Ground Zero to cheer the demise of the world's most
wanted terrorist, smoking cigars and breaking into chest-thumping chants
of "USA! USA!"

Watching from her home in suburban Virginia,
Christian ethicist Diana Butler Bass felt a growing sense of unease.
"What if we responded in reverent prayer and quiet introspection instead
of patriotic frenzy?" she posted on Facebook. "That would be truly
American exceptionalism."

At the Vatican too, where church leaders
had just wrapped up celebrations elevating the late Pope John Paul II
to one step below sainthood, officials urged caution. "A Christian never
rejoices" in the death of any man, no matter how evil, Vatican
spokesman Federico Lombardi said, but instead "reflects on the serious
responsibility of each and every one of us has before God and before
man."