Replies

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.