There were scenes outside the White House of Americans waving their flags and singing their national anthem. They were clearly celebrating the fact that the man responsible for so much death, pain and fear in the first decade of the new millennium has been removed from this earth.

With his death, this newspaper has no doubt that the world is a better place. There is no other man who has so personified extremist, anti-Western, Islamic terrorism in the last decade than he. Bin Laden sowed seeds of hatred far and wide, and inspired a new generation of Muslims to accomplish their goal of an Islamic world order through murder.

There will no doubt be many rejoicing at the death of a man who accomplished nothing else through his life but the death of thousands of innocent people. Bin Laden died with no remorse and believing that he would go to a paradise of 70 virgins for his callous deeds.
After 10 long years, the mastermind of September 11 and America’s most wanted man is dead.

Yet for all the relief many will be feeling, his death is still a sombre event. Thousands died on 9/11 and today many people will no doubt be grieving as they are forced to remember again the terrible events that took the lives of their loved ones.

And whilst bin Laden’s death is deeply symbolic, it is nonetheless one small victory in a very large and complex battle. Al-Qaeda was just one Islamic fundamentalist group, but there are others and they too are willing to kill to realise their cause. Rooting out Islamic extremism in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan is going to be a lengthy and costly struggle, and that cost is going to be paid for not only with money but with lives.

Then there is the tragedy of bin Laden himself. It is sometimes necessary that lives be lost in order to preserve and protect life, but that loss of life is always regrettable. God intended every life for good and it is hard to rejoice when someone wanders so far away from that original intention. Bin Laden’s death is a stark reminder of the fallen world within which we live and how far we have to go before a world free from violence, hatred and senseless killing can finally come.

We live in uncertain times and more blood will likely be shed before the world is rid of extremism in all its forms. Yet we live in the hope that good will eventually triumph over evil, and on that score there is something we can do.

We can use our lips to bring hope to those around us with the knowledge that God has promised an end to suffering and is restoring his creation even today. And we can use our lives to model love and live out Jesus’ exhortation to be peacemakers. For if ever this world needed peacemakers, it is now.