Brain Trust - Mindy Belz

Today's Brain Trust segment featured Mindy Belz, Editor of World Magazine. On the agenda? Osama Bin Laden, especially the reaction - both from Christians and in general - to his death.

Where are most people beginning to come out on Bin Laden's death?

Well, I would say that most people are beginning to come out on the side of being thankful that Osama Bin Laden is no longer with us.

As we're learning about more information about what Bin Laden was up to, we've got a lot of information...we're learning so much about the very valuable strategic role that he was playing in Al-Qaeda.

We realize that probably and hopefully a lot of lives can be saved.

Is there another way the Bin Laden mission should've turned out?

Certainly it's possible. But it's hard for me to imagine that we could've seen Osama given the routine that was applied to Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

The atmosphere is so different now...I think the administration would find itself frozen in how we can treat someone like Osama Bin Laden.

You talked to a lot of pastors, what were some of these guys saying?

It's interesting that there was almost scripture wars.

There were those who wanted to quote passages like Matthew 5:44...then there were others who would find other passages to quote about the value of justice and the value of dealing with someone who's demonstrably evil.

I like what D.A. Carson said. “He is an evil man, and he must be stopped, but he is a man, and we should take no pleasure in destroying him. Vengeance is the Lord’s alone. Do not offer the alternative, ‘Should we weep for Osama bin Laden or hold him to account for his genocide and prevent him from carrying out his violent intentions?’ The right answer is yes.”

I think that's where we have to land. And I should say, for the others out there.

But we should also not shrink from doing what we have to do.

Are we safe or more in danger?

Well that's always a really difficult question that you've hit on.

I'd like to think that we 're safe in so much that hopefully we're smarter.

I think we have a tremendous challenge ahead, rightly understanding the roots of this conflict.

And the people who want to promote global jihad are doing it because they want to adopt an ideology from the Quran that is very militant.

How safe are the missionaries?

Well the ones that I know about are certainly being more careful.

We've been in touch with a lot of Christians in Pakistan.

The government even took the step the day after Bin Laden was killed to say, please close your churches, please close your institutions.

They've been targeted in the past and they will face it in the future.