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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 05/20/2009 : 03:05:23
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What the hell is it with the military these days? When I was in, nobody worried about the beliefs of other countries and most certainly didn't pass out Bibles in them. The various churchs have missionaries for that -- civilian missionaries. Religious conversions were not a part of our mission and thus, we never had this sort of a problem. Bibles Destroyed in Afghanistan... By U.S. Military
May 19, 2009 12:56 PM
On May 4, Al Jazeera English ran a report suggesting that U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan may have been violating anti-proselytizing rules by distributing Dari-and Pashto-language New Testament Bibles.
Central Command General Order No. 1 specifically forbids “proselytizing of any faith, religion or practice.” The footage came from documentary filmmaker Brian Hughes
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So, what to do? Why have a good, old-fashioned book-burning, of course, to the bitter disgust from the usual quarters -- does anyone not see the irony here? "A documentary filmmaker was allowed onto Bagram last May to shoot footage of religious sessions involving troops," the Pentagon said. "He recorded a session where a participant displayed Bibles translated into Dari and Pashto that had been sent to him by his church back home. After a discussion of how or if they should be distributed, the chaplain running the service reaffirmed Gen. Order No. 1 and the Bibles were not distributed and were confiscated."
As to the Lt. Col. Hensley urging his congregation to hunt people for Jesus, the Pentagon official said the chaplain was speaking in general terms and not urging them to go out into Afghanistan to convert locals.
(That, of course, does not touch the issue of Sgt. Watt distributing Bibles in Iraq.)
On May 5, Army spokeswoman Major Jennifer Willis told Reuters that at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan "the Bibles shown on Al Jazeera's clip were, in fact, collected by the chaplains and later destroyed. They were never distributed."
Today, Christian Broadcasting's David Brody says "the Bibles were burned because the rules on the base say that all garbage is burned at the end of the day. But just asking here; if the U.S. Military seized a stack full of Korans, would they be burned? You think that might cause a little outrage in the Muslim world?"
Brody also makes note of The Great Commission in the Book of Matthew where Jesus says "(G)o and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
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Edit: On a distantly related matter:
Mormon Utah state rep. says Obama nominee for ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman, will try to convert China to Mormonism
by John Aravosis (DC) on 5/19/2009 03:39:00 PM
Well this should go over well. As the Utah state representative explained in a Web posting that was quickly removed - unfortunately for him, Google lives on - soon to be US Ambassador to China, Republican governor of Utah Jon Huntsman, himself a Mormon, is under ecclesiastical mandate to proselytize to the Chinese when he goes to there to be Obama's ambassador. He has no choice.
Let Huntsman deny it. Let Obama deny it. It doesn't matter. Our next Ambassador to China will be using his post to try to convert the Chinese to Mormonism, and more generally, to let the Mormons into China where they can then run around the country and spread their ideology.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Edited by - filthy on 05/20/2009 03:27:15
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
 Posted - 05/20/2009 : 05:39:43 [Permalink]
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Originally quoted by filthy
Today, Christian Broadcasting's David Brody says "the Bibles were burned because the rules on the base say that all garbage is burned at the end of the day. But just asking here; if the U.S. Military seized a stack full of Korans, would they be burned? You think that might cause a little outrage in the Muslim world?" |
Mmmm... that's good fatwah envy, right there. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 05/20/2009 : 07:34:50 [Permalink]
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While sending the Bible in an effort to convert the locals was highly illegal,why burn them?
Why not give them back to whoever receive them and have him send them back (or to another destination) at his own cost?
That way, everybody would be happier... |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 05/21/2009 : 10:51:33 [Permalink]
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| That video is chilling. Even more chilling - that 60% of military chaplains describe themselves as "conservative, Evangelical Christians." Seems like they are the ones who need to be "hunted" and then thrown out of the military. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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Bibles burned in Afghanistan
