A need for God in times of terror

A recent poll on the Netscape home page asked if Osama bin Laden were to be captured by the United States, should he be assassinated or brought to trial. The vote was more than 70 percent for assassination and 30 percent for bringing the man to trial.\nSince Sept. 11, the world view on killing people has drastically changed. In one fell swoop, murder and death have lost their lethal demeanor and something more passe seems to have found its way into our collective minds.\nEven in this country -- a country founded on the principle of innocent until proven guilty -- a man who is only suspected is already condemned. We sit back and joke about it; even here with George Carlin who, in his IU Auditorium show, denounced the Ten Commandments except for one: "Thou shalt not murder anyone unless he doth not believe in the same invisible god as you do; in that case, kill that son of a bitch."\nNo one is really dormant from these feelings -- even if they are in passing -- as my first reaction was to point nuclear weapons at Mecca and Medina and unless bin Laden was released to us, the United States would start destroying those holiest of places. In effect, I wanted the United States to hit them where it hurt the most. But, being a rational and tolerant person, that thought took only a minute to pass through my mind and be discarded as totally ludicrous.\nNevertheless, life now seems to be the resource we are least interested with. Being a Jew and a firm supporter of the State of Israel, I am now stuck in a very strident tug of war within my soul. \nAs many are aware, three suicide bombs went off in Israel this weekend: two in Jerusalem, one in the port city of Haifa in the north. At least 20 people, mostly between ages 14-20 are dead and injuries are in the hundreds. And as I read this, I came upon a quote that froze me and horrified me.\n"On Sunday morning, angry Israelis gathered at Ben Yehuda street in Jerusalem, chanting 'Death to the Arabs' and calling on their government to move against Arafat."\nJudaism is a religion that does not in any way support killing. Only in times of war is it permitted to kill someone (if someone tries to kill you first, you are allowed to defend yourself). There is no movement in Judaism to wreak terror on those who do not believe what we do. \nBut, Israel and many Israeli Jews are not religious. The loss of religion in Israel will be the political and bloody death of that nation. The same holds true for the Palestinians. If they ever want to have a free and peaceful nation, a murder and casualty toll of more than 200 must not be the price for one assassinated figurehead.\nFinally, the people of the United States and the world must realize that death and killing is never the final answer. Certainly in a war people must die, but we can never resort to being a nation that will kill anyone without cause or proof of wrongdoing. Even bin Laden must come to trial and not to immediate death. Otherwise, we are no better than he.