Bin Laden

Is an action morally good because God commands it, or does God command it because it is morally good? This is the same question Plato asked in his dialogue known as “Euthyphro.” It challenges the divine command theory which states that moral values are whatever is commanded by God. Osama Bin Laden in talking to his people stated:

"We--with God's help--call on every Muslim who believes in God and wishes to be rewarded to comply with God's order to kill the Americans and plunder their money wherever and whenever they find it."

In this cry out to his people to convince them to go to war against the United States he uses a reference to God three times. It is obvious that he is using religion on his side. He is using the divine command theory in this statement to try to persuade his people that it is right to go to war against the United States, not because he said so but because God said so. He is saying that moral values are whatever God commands.

God is obviously present in this statement and is used in three different ways. The first way that it is used is in saying “With God’s help.” In this statement, he is claiming that God is on their side. The only way this will be done successfully is with the help of God. They cannot go to war and single-handedly succeed without a divine presence. The second place God comes up is “Every Muslim who believes in God.” Being a Muslim means that a person believes that there is only one God. So stating that a person is a Muslim it is assumed that they believe in God. What he says is every Muslim that believes in God. He is emphasizing the belief in God. In the last use of God in this statement he states that anyone who “wishes to be rewarded to comply with God’s order to kill the Americans.” In the final use of God, he finally states that this is what God wants. That God has ordered him to gather his people and kill as many Americans as possible. Throughout the whole statement he is not asking the people to listen to him, but to listen to what God has told him. There is no place in this statement where he says I order you to do this or I ask you to do this. It is all based on the people’s belief that if God says it is the right thing to do, then we are doing the right thing because he is morally correct. As a result of all of this according to Bin Laden, the people will be rewarded by God not him. This is exactly what the divine command theory states.

In an earlier statement, Osama Bin Laden came up with this argument in an interview:

"We declared jihad against the U.S. government because the U.S. government is unjust, criminal and tyrannical. It has committed acts that are extremely unjust, hideous and criminal..."

In Osama Bin Laden’s reasoning here, he never brings up the word God or any other form of divine intervention. Here he is saying that the United States government has not been morally correct. This is not necessarily morally incorrect according to religion, but according to the morals of Bin Laden and his people. In the first statement, he is trying to convince his people that it is God’s will to attack the Americans. In this second statement, he gives reasoning to why he is going to attack the Americans based off their moral beliefs. The second statement is a better statement for one reason it has nothing to do with religious beliefs or the mention of God. This statement is based off secular grounds and not religious grounds. People within the same religion can disagree on topics in that same religion. A person cannot base a decision to go to war and kill people based off of religion. It is not what is accepted or morally correct

The second statement has no mention of God. Nowhere does it say that God commanded them to go to war with the United States. Bin Laden claims that the “U.S. government is unjust, criminal and tyrannical.” According to what were these acts unjust and criminal? According to their secular morals, the United States was unjust and criminal. It is obvious through the first statement that these people are extremely religious; otherwise, Bin Laden would not have used religion as a way to convince these people to fight. Religion did not cause Bin Laden to declare war against the United States. Religion did not rule the acts of the United States “unjust and criminal.” It was the secular morals that that culture has. This is why the second statement is better. It is gives the moral reasons why he declared war. It did not use religion to back the decision. It is obvious that war does not happen over nothing. It is because there is a disagreement of morals. It is obvious Bin Laden thought the U.S. government was wrong, but it is the second statement that pinpoints the reasoning behind it. The reasoning behind it is the pursuit to follow secular morals that are accepted by the people, and to let no one put those morals in jeopardy.