Hang 'Em High

If we were going to write a biography
of our times, we should call it
"The Blind Art Collector, and Other Stories"
--Fran Liebowitz

All God's children are not beautiful.
Most of God's children are,
in fact, barely presentable
--ibid.
_________________

In discussion recently with a self-proclaimed religious person, Ranger's interlocutor stated that Osama bin Laden's killing was just, correct and warranted by virtue of his being a "superior man"; it was this that made him a legitimate target.

This thinking allows U.S. policy to officially pursue extra-judicial executions worldwide -- because their subjects are legitimate targets who deserve to die. The U.S. has dispensed with the sine qua non of a conviction -- proof and a fair trail.

Since it is Sunday, let us apply the same yardstick to the Christian's leader. If it was correct to kill OBL like a rabid dog, then was it not also correct for Jesus to have been humiliated and killed?

Jesus was a threat to the Roman Empire and the King of Judea. He was, after all, the self-declared King of Kings. Yet Jesus received a military tribunal and a conviction overseen by a legal authority; he got his day in court.

If Christians feel Jesus was treated unfairly, how can they miss the parallels to an event 1979 years later? Why was Jesus's death the basis of a religion, while OBL's was just another anti-climactic casualty in a Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) Jesus was reported to have arisen after three days dead, while OBL was dumped into the ocean. At least the Romans had the decency to allow for a traditional burial.

We haven't come so far since 33 C.E.