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| Olde Tyme Religion |
| US burns Bibles in Afghanistan row |
| 2010-01-21 |
| Al Jezeera exploding with stories of preachin' and bible-burning and scripture on scopes. This is just one. The US army in Afghanistan has burned Bibles printed in local languages, a US colonel in Afghanistan has said, amid concerns they could have been used to try to convert Afghans. "My understanding is that the [military] leadership confiscated these Bibles so that they could not be distributed around Afghanistan," Colonel Greg Julian told Al Jazeera on Wednesday. "It was their best judgement at the time, that the best way to deal with it, was to destroy them and I understand that they were burnt." Al Jazeera broadcast footage earlier this month showing troops apparently discussing how best to convert Afghans to their faith. Some of the soldiers who appeared in the video have been reprimanded, US government and military officials told Al Jazeera correspondent James Bays. The video, shot about a year ago, appeared to show military chaplains stationed in the US air base at Bagram discussing how to distribute copies of the Bible printed in the country's main Pashto and Dari languages. In one recorded sermon, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, tells soldiers that, as followers of Jesus Christ, they all have a responsibility "to be witnesses for him". "The special forces guys - they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus ... we hunt them down," he said. "Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do, that's our business." Questioned about the footage earlier in the month, Julian told Al Jazeera: "Most of this is taken out of context ... this is irresponsible and inappropriate journalism. "This footage was taken a year ago ... the Bibles were taken into custody and not distributed. There is no effort to go out and proselytize to Afghans." The military said a soldier at Bagram received the Bibles and did not realise he was not allowed to hand them out. "It's not a preference but, under the circumstances, the leadership made the best decision that they could to ensure that they weren't distributed among the Afghan population. So, unfortunately, this is the route that we went," he said. Regulations by the US military's central command expressly forbid "proselytizing of any religion, faith or practice". But in the footage chaplains appear to understand their actions were in breach of regulations. "Do we know what it means to proselytize?" Captain Emmit Furner, a military chaplain, said to the gathering. "It is General Order Number One," an unidentified soldier replied. "You can't proselytize, but you can give gifts", another said. It's official. It's a crusade. This is going to be bigger than the Danish cartoon kafuffle. Use the BIG bowl of popcorn. |
| Posted by:Swanimote |
| #5 For reference: Two years ago the US military in Afghanistan interfered in Dutch internal affairs and implicitly endorsed the imposition of sharia on non-muslims in the west. Why would that not count as pro-sharia proselytism and hence be a violation of a standing order? It looks like the net result of the "liberation" of Afghanistan is the finlandization of the formerly free west. Theocratic fascism is being imported into western countries, instead of being rolled back if Afghanistan. /rant |
| Posted by: Elmereter Tojo2646 2010-01-21 21:24 |
| #4 I don't know about the Afghans in general, but the best way to convert the Taliban to our faith is to hunt them down and shoot them. That's how the Afghans were converted out of the faith of their ancestors - Buddhism - in the first place. Arab invaders gave them a choice - Islam or death. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2010-01-21 18:05 |
| #3 But it's O.K. for the donks to try to convert everyone around the world to the God of Global Warming? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-01-21 16:11 |
| #2 Watch the MSM give it as much coverage as the fake 'flushing' the Koran episode. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-01-21 13:20 |
| #1 I don't know about the Afghans in general, but the best way to convert the Taliban to our faith is to hunt them down and shoot them. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-01-21 12:29 |