Posted on 05/05/2009 11:14:16 AM PDT by mikelets456
The U.S. military is confirming that it has destroyed some Bibles belonging to an American soldier serving in Afghanistan.
Reuters News says the Bibles were confiscated and destroyed after Qatar-based Al Jazeer television showed soldiers at a Bible class on a base with a stack of Bibles translated into the local Pashto and Dari languages. The U.S. military forbids its members on active duty -- including those based in places like Afghanistan -- from trying to convert people to another religion.
Reuters quotes Maj. Jennifer Willis at the Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, who said "I can now confirm that the Bibles shown on Al Jazeera's clip were, in fact, collected by the chaplains and later destroyed. They were never distributed."
three soldiersAccording to the military officials, the Bibles were sent through private mail to an evangelical Christian soldier by his church back home. Reuters says the soldier brought them to the Bible study class where they were filmed.
The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, told a Pentagon briefing Monday that the military's position is that it will never "push any specific religion."
(Excerpt) Read more at onenewsnow.com ...
A tough call? Are you kidding me? How can a Christian go around and collect Bibles for destruction?
You got a point there....However, it would not surprise me, which is sad!
Remember, how these nutjob’s in Washington did not want prayer’s at a Military funeral or chaplins to read or talk about GOD?
General Order 1 specifically forbids proselytizing of any kind.
Agreed, don’t disobey lawful orders and come back as civilian missionaries if you feel that strongly about it.
SZ
My son was with Special Forces in Afgh. in 2006, I am sending him this post to get his feedback re mission danger. Also, has anyone heard anything about the rumor that Tillman was killed by his fellow soldiers because he was an athiest?
“Admiral Mike Mullen, told a Pentagon briefing Monday that the military’s position is that it will never “push any specific religion.””
Christianity isn’t a religion. Keep preaching, guys.
Thanks for the ping!
“How can a Christian go around and collect Bibles for destruction?”
Christian Chaplains must obey orders from superior officers.
Being a Christian in Afghanistan is not an offense. However, converting from Islam to Christianity is an offense, and probably a capital one. Wasn’t there a case recently where a converted Muslim in Afgh. was to be executed and there was a big diplomatic flap? The soldiers with the Dari and Pashto bibles may not have been proselytizing, but it defies belief to think they did not plan to distribute them. This war is hard enough without having to worry about defending potential martyrs.
“Christianity isn’t a religion.”
What then, is Christianlty?
Bush was in denial in terms of characterizing the enemy, at least in public. Hence ‘War on Terror’.
The war is against militant Islamic fascism, but waging war against a religion didn’t seem like a good idea. Waging war against a tactic, however, did. Terror is a tactic, not an enemy force or philosophy.
War is about exhausting an enemy’s will to fight, which means attacking the philosophy at some point. Bush didn’t want to go there. Now you have a Muslim in as CinC. The US just went from being a philosophical opponent of Islamic fascism to being a faction.
The evidence is in how the pirate situation was handled. He wasn’t about to kill the pirates, not as long as they were Muslim. The decision to kill the pirates was made by the on-scene commander.
As to what’s going on in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Obama now represents the head of a moderate Islamic faction. I don’t think he has an idea of how he’s going to mitigate the threat, but I think he believes that as an adherent, he has credibility that no other guy would have.
As for his personal take on religion, I think he believes he’s god, or a god. I don’t think he buys into the mumbo-jumbo of religion. He’s never really needed it, and he’s been successful manipulating people who do believe in it.
This is probably a generous position to take on all of this. The less generous one is that he’s a Manchurian Candidate, and believes that the US has had its day as an imperial state. He may believe that Islamic imperialism is somehow more benign or honest somehow.
His personal wealth, he believes, was come by honestly. He didn’t indenture poorly paid employees to get it - he wrote books. His wealth manifested by the power of his ideas. It’s why his wife can wear $240 shoes, but he can ask bondholders at Chrysler and GM to suck it while handing the company over to the slaves on the assembly line.
He may think he’s re-enacting Amistad, where the slaves kill all the white people and toss them overboard. The slaves are the wage earners, and the slaveholders are the investors. I don’t think its about race, but economics. This is his way of redistributing the wealth. We’ve tried running companies with boards and CEO’s, why not try running it with the average line supervisor in charge, or a union president?
Only Nixon could go to China, right? Only a Muslim Socialist can fix poverty and end the disagreements and miscommunication we have with the world’s dominant religion. This is what he means by change. He doesn’t hate the US, he believes he hates what it has become, and so do a lot of people in Hollywood. I might add that every actor in Hollywood with any success and wealth sees themselves as having come by it honestly as well.
You’d think a Christian would obey orders from his superior....Jesus Christ...and wouldn’t have any part in destroying Bibles because an Islamic Propaganda Network shows a clip of U.S. soldiers practicing their faith!
““Christianity isn’t a religion.”
What then, is Christianlty?”
It’s the Way of Life that God described in His Word, to those who want to be in tune with Him and his universe. Those who adopt it experience peace and joy, as well as guidance through the dark places. I don’t mean membership in a local church - I mean membership in the Body of Christ, achieved by accepting Him at face value and wholeheartedly, without reservations or conditions.
It starts with turning one’s self and life over to the Creator who paid for our sins with His blood, and letting Him do the rest.
It does not include rituals, rites, formulas or creeds. It has no bricks or steeples. It takes no money. It’s free, but it’s priceless, like the life that bought it. The entrance can be found in His word, The Holy Bible.
Completely agree with your position. They are on duty 24 hours a day as soldiers of the United States and Christian missionary work is not part of their mission statement. The military religious work is the province of the chaplins, especially in a sensitive location like Afghanistan.
As for coming back as missionaries, good luck with that. Afghanistan is a Muslim country and (with some exceptions) bases its laws on the Sharia. Christian proselytizing is definitely against Afghan law and a Muslim who converts is an apostate and is literally risking his life to do so.
Whatever it takes to kiss Muslim ASS.
Well, I bet anything the Muslims that are US Military would not hesitate to try onverting anyone they could to be Muslim.
Somehow I doubt that the US military will tear up Korans, though.
It’s okay to kill ‘em, but not convert ‘em.
I know, but commanders in theatre have GREAT latitude in how they interpret G.O.1 and can add what they feel appropriate.
Without knowing what was amended to G.O.1(or if it was) I don’t really have the facts to make a conclusion, that’s why I only posted what I did right out of G.O.1. Tried to stay generic.
I do know that while in Saudi in 90-91 we were not to have scriptures, scripture study or religious services. The services were called “morale meetings” to screen their real purpose. Folks turned a blind eye to those who did have scriptures and attended the meetings though, it wasn’t that big of a secret. We had Chaplains there who couldn’t wear their insignia.
Without having more info. it’s nigh on impossible to draw a reasonable conclusion about what happened. I’m not saying it’s right, only positing the facts as I know them based on the info in the article.
Regards,
SZ
they could have shipped them back to the states to where they came from. No reason to destroy. Its interesting that U.S. troops were involved destroying them. I guess i’m not surprised thesed days.
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