Arsalan Iftikhar, an international human rights lawyer who is also founder of TheMuslimGuy.com and global managing editor for The Crescent Post in Washington, D.C.,  called bin Laden’s death a reason for rejoicing by Muslims.

CNN reports that U.S. Muslims hope the death will ease pressure on their community.

Iman Feisal Abdul Rauf, the cleric behind the controversial plan to build an Islamic cultural center near the World Trade Center site, praised Obama for ordering the killing of bin Laden.

CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and a prominent Muslim advocacy group, issued a statement that “welcomed the announcement of the elimination of Osama bin Laden as a threat to America and the world.”

The Muslim Public Affairs Council issued a statement expressing “an immense sense of relief” at bin Laden’s death.

A contributor at Vox Nova, a Catholic group blog, writes that killing someone “will never be an act of justice … but rather, brings further loss onto the world.”

Joe Carter, web editor for First Things, urges Christians to temper any relief at bin Laden’s death with humility and the understanding that those who commit evil acts are “fallen, sacred yet degraded,” human beings.

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.

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