Telling the truth about history is not bigotry. Refusal to deal with such data does not advance understanding or lead to good decisions.

It is right to be joyful when a burden is taken away – that a burden is taken away – and an injustice is a burden. To see an injustice corrected is indeed liberating, and thus we have cause to feel joyful.

But IMO we must be very cautious when we celebrate – we must be careful to separate our cause for celebration from someone else’s suffering. To rejoice at the misfortune of another person is just wrong.

I can be happy to have gained a promotion, but it seems to me very destructive and wrong if I am happy that someone else – someone I dislike – did not get it. One is a celebration of the positive and the other a celebration of what is negative. There’s a difference and I think that difference needs to be observed.

I do expect our state to do what it has to, in order to take care of us – because a state’s function includes both defense and keeping the peace (which requires that it dispense justice) – but we should never forget that states are not perfect; states make mistakes.

Of course it sounds crazy to say “we don’t know if Bin Laden is guilty” – perhaps it would sound less crazy to say “We don’t know that it was right to kill Bin Laden”. But we have to keep this in mind – that there is a difference between “We judged it necessary to take this action” vs. “It is right and, yes, good that this action was taken” – because we must always remember that it is for God to judge, not us.

So I guess my position on the issue is that (a) both sides are right, but (b) both sides should also remember that the other side is right, too.