Islam-Muslims

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Churches respond to Osama's death

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It was just a week ago that we all got news about the killing of Osama bin Laden. On Sunday night, crowds of people came out to celebrate this victory in the war on terror. And while many people understood the impromptu reaction, others felt a bit uncomfortable by the celebration. I think we all probably had mixed emotions in our reaction to Osama’s death. Almost immediately, many of my (mostly) Lutheran friends and family discussed what our reaction should be and it was an interesting example of how theology influences our day-to-day behavior.


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Got news? Abbottabad priest holds breath

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First let me note that, even as we justifiably debate some questions about the life, death and burial of Osama bin Laden, I am one of those guys who think that mainstream press coverage of the religious elements of this story has actually been quite solid — in some cases pushing past the early answers from the White House and into unexplored territory.


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Pod people: No shrines for shrine haters

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Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! On Crossroads this week, we discussed media coverage of the burial of Osama bin Laden as well as coverage of the Royal Wedding. During the podcast, I noted that there had been much excellent journalism this week and that some errors are bound to creep in. What’s important, I think, is to get the story right as quickly as possible.


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Bin Laden burial questions

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Yesterday we discussed the media coverage of Osama bin Laden’s “Muslim burial.” At first the media ran with the story that he’d been buried at sea according to Muslim law and also to avoid the grave becoming a shrine. Then some reporters noted that some Muslim clerics disagreed that the burial had been done according to Islamic practice.


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How Islamic was this burial?

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Shortly after I wrote the previous post about the Obama administration’s desire to adhere to sharia when it comes to the handling of Osama bin Laden’s body, we learned that the burial at sea had already happened. And what that means is we’re getting some interesting stories about the role religion played in his burial.


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Osama bin Laden killed

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We’ve had quite the active few days in religious news, eh? And we’ll have many things to look at in media coverage from the days to come. In President Barack Obama’s address to the nation about the killing of Osama bin Laden, he discussed bin Laden’s religion and the effect of his actions on other Muslims. There’s a lot to discuss there but not much to note with media coverage yet. Here’s the portion of the speech in question:


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Church and State ... and unions?

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As the daughter of a public employee union member, I was inclined to look at this Associated Press story about religion and unions. Its headline in the USA Today version was “Churches wrestle with God’s stand on union rights.” I was hoping the story would discuss, well, churches wrestling with the issue — or with each other — but it was actually just a long, but shallow, look mostly at what a few mainline clergy have to say about collective bargaining battles:


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