Monday, May 04, 2009

US TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN TOLD TO BECOME MISSIONARIES FOR JESUS

This is not only Unconstitutional, but if defies a direct order from the US military's Central Command that expressly forbid "proselytising of any religion, faith or practice".

From
Al Jazeera via Buzz Flash:

'Witness for Jesus' in Afghanistan




Bagram has a thriving evangelical
Christian communit

US soldiers have been encouraged to spread the message of their Christian faith among Afghanistan's predominantly Muslim population, video footage obtained by Al Jazeera appears to show.

Military chaplains stationed in the US air base at Bagram were also filmed with bibles 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, is seen telling 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 do, we hunt them down," he says.

"Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do, that's our business."

It is not clear that the Bibles were distributed to Afghans, but Hughes said that none of the people he recorded in a series of sermons and Bible study classes appeared to able to speak Pashto or Dari.

"They weren't talking about learning how to speak Dari or Pashto, by reading the Bible and using that as the tool for language lessons," Hughes said.

"The only reason they would have these documents there was to distribute them to the Afghan people. And I knew it was wrong, and I knew that filming it … documenting it would be important."

Pentagon officials have so far not responded to a copy of the footage provided to them, but the distribution of Bibles in a place as politically sensitive as Afghanistan is bound to cause deep concern in Washington, our correspondent says.

It is not clear if the presence of the Bibles and exhortations for soldiers to be "witnesses" for Jesus continues, but they were filmed a year ago despite regulations by the US military's Central Command that expressly forbid "proselytising of any religion, faith or practice".


The rest of this story can be found here.

10 comments:

A World Quite Mad said...

You see, this is the kind of crap that puts our soldiers in danger. Many of the people there who might be ambivalent about us being there, upon hearing of this, might decide that not only are we hunting terrorists, but we're attacking their religion and culture. And I'll let you take that to it's logical conclusion.

Remember when G.W. Bush called it a "crusade". That didn't go over real well with the people there, who have a grasp of history that the majority of people in this country don't have. They have very long memories, and they weren't very happy with the terminology being used.

Grandpa Eddie said...

AWQM - You are so right about this putting our troops in danger. Many Muslims believe that if someone comes in and tries to do just this thing that they should be put to death.

Gordon said...

Jihad for Jesus?

Grandpa Eddie said...

It sure sounds like it, Gordon, doesn't it.

Lowell said...

GE, you are absolutely brilliant! May your days be long and full of joy!

:-)

Shaun B said...

Anyone else see the irony in the fact that Muslims consider Jesus a prophet of Allah?

Here'd be a funny conversation...

Soldier: We're here to tell you about Jesus!

Muslim: We already know about him, he was a prophet of God.

Soldier: ...oh


Actual knowledge of anything outside there own religion seems to be lost on a lot of the fundamentalists out there.

Sidhe said...

This also brings some concern to me for the atmosphere that our military members are working in. There is no requirement that military personnel be Christian, we do have Muslim chaplains (among others) in our ranks. How do these non-Christian members feel working in an environment like this. As a 15 year non-Christian military veteran, this news just pisses me off.

Grandpa Eddie said...

Jacob - Right back atcha my friend.

Grandpa Eddie said...

Shaunbacca - It is ironic.

The fundies seem to be like so many Rethuglicans. They think that they are always right and know more than others, especially the "heathens" from underdeveloped countries, ie Muslims.

Grandpa Eddie said...

Sidhe - It doesn't matter to the "christians" how everyone else feels, because they are positive everyone else are wrong.

The tolerance of others that their Jesus taught is one of the many things they do not practice.