Many Christians across the theological spectrum called for restraint, rather than celebration, at the killing of Osama bin Laden.

“Faced with the death of a man, a Christian never rejoices,” said Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi, "but reflects on the serious responsibility of each and every one of us before God and before man, and hopes and commits himself so that no event be an opportunity for further growth of hatred, but for peace.”

The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest who worked at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9-11, acknowledged “the death and destruction” bid Laden unleashed, but reminded Christians of the Easter story.

“Jesus, the innocent one, not only triumphantly rose from the dead but, in his earthly life, forgave his executioners from the cross, in the midst of excruciating pain,” Martin writes. “Forgiveness is the hardest of all Christian acts.”

Several writers quoted a verse from the biblical book of Proverbs, which says, "Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles."

Joanna Brooks, an LDS writer and scholar, said she and her Jewish husband were pleased to see Twitter and Facebook pages “full of folks — Mormon, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, atheist — recoiling from pictures of frat boys dancing in the streets wrapped in the American flag.”

On Sunday night, the couple tucked their 7- and 5-year-old daughters into bed with a reminder about their Passover Seder in which they spilled a drop of grape juice for every plague that struck the Egyptians.

"We do not take pleasure in the suffering and death of others,” the parents told the girls, Brooks writes, “even bad guys.”

Not all Christians agree.

David Brody, writing at Christian Broadcasting Network, claimed that President Barack Obama aimed his announcement of bin Laden's death at “some of the crazies in the Arab world,” who might question why Americans were celebrating.

“Give me a break,” Brody wrote. “Isn't it time to stop catering to thugs?”

Peggy Fletcher Stack