Posted on 07/30/2009 7:17:44 AM PDT by nmh
PENTAGON BURNS OUR SOLDIERS BIBLES
BREAKING NEWS: Pentagon Burns Soldiers Bibles - Military Chaplains Attacked
BY CHAPLAIN GORDON JAMES KLINGENSCHMITT, UPDATED 5 JULY 09
A Pentagon spokesman under the Obama Administration recently acknowledged and defended seizing and burning the privately owned Bibles of American soldiers serving in Afghanistan. The Bibles had been printed in the local Pashto and Dari languages, and sent by private donors last year (under the Bush Administration) to American Christian soldiers and chaplains, for distribution to American troops on overseas military bases during optionally-attended Christian worship services. Had the Bibles not been recently seized and destroyed (as verified and defended by the Obama Administration), they could have legally been given as gifts during off-duty time to Afghani citizens who welcome our troops in their homes, as an expression of American gratitude for Afghani hospitality, promoting the democratic ideals of freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom to print and distribute Christian Bibles like the new Afghani Constitution specifically allows.
But the Muslim controlled Al Jazeera television network obtained video footage of the Bibles, held by American soldiers while listening to a chaplain on the Bagram Air Base (inside the base chapel) whose sermon encouraged outreach and personal evangelism. The American values of freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of Christian speech easily offended some extremist Muslim groups, (who apparently hate their own Constitution) and angered a small group of American atheists, who demanded the chaplain be punished for "proselytizing" because he simply repeated Jesus' words to "Go and make disciples of all nations" in church. (Can you imagine their outrage if we burned the Koran, instead of the Bible?)
(Excerpt) Read more at prayinJesusname.org ...
If Obama is a "Christian" why burn Bibles?
If Obama is a "Christian" why not allow a GIFT that is LEGAL be given to the people there?
If Obama is a "Christian" why is the U.S. burning Bible that are LEGAL in Afganistan when they have Freedom of Religion under their laws and the Constitution the U.S. helped them draw up?
Should we allow Obama and atheists over rule what is legal in Afganistan and the U.S. ?
When is enough, ENOUGH?
How much more are you willing ot put up with?
If Barry Soetoro could get away with it, he burn your Bible too.
We as a nation are dead.
We’ve allowed this creature to lead us and we will suffer the consequences for it.
His hypocracy doesn’t even matter anymore. The damage is done. Doesn’t matter if he lied and is doing what we suspected. He’s there. He’s leading us right down the toilet. Full throttle too.
A. I don’t believe this story;
B. We sent an army, not a bunch of missionaries;
C. I don’t believe this story.
Even if it were not legal to give these bibles out, there was no need to burn them. Burning them sure sends a clear message to the Afghanis and to American citizens where the heart of our so-called “Commander in Chief” lies.
I’m too well armed for that.
Obama’s election was made possible by millions of Christians or at least “Christians” who saw him as goodness and light, virtue and righteousness. Heaven help us.
I think that was the idea.
“The Bibles had been printed in the local Pashto and Dari languages,...”
Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe our country had an agreement not to proselytize the local people in Afghanistan while on their soil. We may not like it as Christians, but this sounds like exactley what this group was doing and hence the military probably was required to take the bibles out of circulation.
I am a Christian and something just does not make sense with this story. I will have to research it more. It would not surprise me, but this is from a month ago and I have not heard ANYTHING on this!
Let’s keep things in perspective here. If the Bibles were not also dual printed in English, then the decision to restrict them may have been right. The job of the military is not to do volunteer evangelization in your free time. Unless you are a Spanish Conquistador with a Friar in Tow. If the Bibles were only printed in local languages and only in the “custody” of U.S. Military personnel then they should have been recalled along with Amway Product Sample Cases and Encyclopedia Britannicas. In short, they were not Government Issue. With a major offensive underway and the need to decamp and march or relocate to the fronts...there is a practical application for this. If they are meant to evangelize and that results in a public relations setback amongst Afghan Tribal Leaders on whom we rely on for intelligence, cooperation and foraging afield then they very well may result in the loss of U.S. Military lives. However, that being said, the Bibles should never be burned and especially never be burned in country. They should have been placed in an extra crate (or one of the spare coffins that went unused because of the more helpful Afghan Tribal Leaders who did not become insulted by the prosletization), and sent back to the United States.
If the Bibles were co-printed in English and the native languages...then the soldiers must be allowed to keep them because of freedom of religion but a U.S. Military-wide directive should have been communicated that expressly forbids prosletization and the passing of Bibles to the indiginous population by military personnel with corresponding penalties for that behavior and the reasons why this is not within Military Code and why it hurts U.S. efforts.
The only exception is the off-chance that there is a first or second generation Afghanie Christian who is in or connected to our armed forces (meaning on the payroll), who’s religious belief requires him or her to read the Bible in his original vernacular...highly unlikely but still remotely possible.
A. I don’t believe this story
B. If it were true, they would have just dumped them. Have you ever tried to actually burn a book?
C. I don’t believe this story.
I've heard that worn American flags are to be burned, as are the palms blessed at Easter and distributed to the parishioners/members. But what is the respectful means of disposing of worn or un-needed Bibles?
The one thing (maybe the only thing) I have learned about our military is the word “respect”. That's not to say they always live up to it or are shown it, but the stated goal is to “respect” authority. I somehow (knowing how much a part ethics and morality is stressed at OCS) suspect that this was not an un-researched method of disposing of the banned bibles.
I'm not going to comment on the proselytizing or the cause of the rejection of holy scripture, but rather the practical necessity of showing respect for the Divine Beatific Vision.
My kind of Chaplian is found in Otto Sporrer. Part of his story is at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,814487,00.html
Father Sporrer was awarded the Silver Star for his Chosin Reservoir actions. That fact comes from page 290 of the book “Chesty,” about Chesty Puller.
Those Christians who have helped this maggot ascend are also in for a real butt kicking, old testament style.
Ping for later
By the way, the guy that wrote this is the one who was booted from the navy for insubordination when he defied direct orders and participated in partisan political events in uniform. Military regulations have long forbidden this type of activity, and he knowingly disregarded that.
Captain Norm Holcomb, command chaplin NAS Norfolk, and this guy’s former boss said this:
“I was the dishonored ex-chaplain’s supervisor for the past 2 years. I found him to be totally untruthful, unethical and insubordinate. He was and is contemptuous of all authority. He was not court martialed for praying in Jesus’ name. I sent him out in uniform every week to pray at various ceremonies and functions. He always prayed in uniform and in Jesus’ name. He was never told that he could not pray in Jesus’ name. In fact, the issue of prayer had nothing at all to do with his dismissal from the Navy. He disobeyed the lawful order of a senior officer. I am sure that you understand that Navy Regulations forbid any of us, regardless of rank or position, to appear in uniform in support of any political or partisan event.”
“He appeared in direct support of a political event, demonstrating contempt for the order of his Commanding Officer and Naval Regulations that we all swear that we will abide by. The ex-chaplain is a man without honor and you have accepted his story and in doing so you have had ‘the wool pulled over your eyes.’”
“We have been relatively quiet regarding our ex-chaplain’s untruthfulness and lack of honor because we are embarrassed that one of our own could display such behavior in the name of our Lord. We wanted to spare all concerned the embarrassment associated with his dishonesty. However, it now seems that it would be wrong for those of us who know the truth to remain silent. I served with him and supervised him (as best as it was possible to supervise a person who refused to submit to lawful authority) and I know about his daily dishonesty and ‘spin’ of the truth.”
IOW, don’t believe anything that Klingenschmitt says.
I was such a baby when it happened, and there was so little in history books about the Korean War because, as a nation, we were so sick of war, but I knew enough to ask when son called home. To see you mention it here, let's me know that my family is not alone. We remember and we are thankful for you all.
We are a free society, they are a society of clans and tribes, who are totally indoctrinated by their religious leaders, who in many instances are their political leaders. Our business there is to stabilize the area and get their economy going. I can see where there may be some problems, with the “privately owned” bibles written in “Pushtu”. Our armed forces are not crusaders or evangelists, we are not there to build churches or introduce other religions, we are there to help combat the radicals and build an infrastructure. The last thing we want is to give them the impression that the military is there to convert them to Christianity. Want to distribute bibles in Pushtu use missionaries not soldiers.
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