U.S. Army Christians Were Encouraged to Proselytize in Afghanistan; They Were Preparing to Distribute Bibles in Local Languages
May 6th, 2009Via: Military.com:
The U.S. military has confiscated Bibles that Christian U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan had apparently intended to give to local Muslims, a military spokesman has said.
Al Jazeera broadcast footage on Monday that showed troops apparently preparing to convert Afghans to their faith.
Some of the Soldiers who appeared in the video have also been reprimanded, U.S. government and military officials told Al Jazeera’s James Bays.
The video, shot about a year ago, appeared to show military chaplains stationed in the U.S. air base at Bagram discussing how to distribute copies of the Bible printed in the country’s main Pashto and Dari languages.
Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Al Jazeera he was not aware of the details of the footage but that the U.S. Army was not involved in promoting religion.
“From the United States’ military’s perspective, it is not our position to push any specific kind of religion,” he said at a Pentagon briefing in Washington on Monday.
In one recorded sermon, Lt. Col. Gary Hensley, the chief of the U.S. 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 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.”
Questioned about the footage, Greg Julian, a U.S. colonel in Afghanistan, 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 proselytise to Afghans.”
Research Credit: ltcolonelnemo

I can’t believe they could even have considered doing such a thing.
Stone them.