On May 5, 2011, David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network argued that Obama should release photos of bin Laden’s corpse in part because they will come out eventually, and because not doing so violates Obama’s vow to be transparent and makes the president appear “arrogant.”

On May 4, 2011, Reuters published a number of photos of the compound in the aftermath of the raid, including gruesome photos of bin Laden guards killed by U.S. forces. Reuters defended the decision as appropriate.

Before Obama’s decision to not publish photos of Osama bin Laden’s corpse, journalism groups pondered the ethics of publishing or airing any photos that might become available.

On May 4, 2011, Obama decided not to release photos of the corpse. Read an article about the aftermath of the bin Laden raid from the New York Times.

Robert L. Nichols is a professor emeritus in history at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. He is co-editor of Russian Orthodoxy Under the Old Regime.

Stephen Prothero, a religion scholar at Boston University, writes on CNN’s Belief blog that burial at sea was “an elegant solution” to the quandary of what to do with the body, as it thwarts any tendency to turn bin Laden’s burial place into a pilgrimage site for extremists.

Time.com gives an explanation of why bin Laden was buried so quickly, and at sea.

Alexander G. Golitzin is a theology professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee. He is an author of the Historical Dictionary of the Orthodox Church.

Police in  Los Angeles and other cities have heightened patrols near mosques, synagogues and other worship sites. Read about it in an article from the Los Angeles Times.