U.S. military destroys soldier's Bibles
U.S. military destroys soldier's Bibles.
The U.S. military is confirming that it has destroyed some Bibles belonging to an American soldier serving in Afghanistan.
Reuters News says the Bibles were confiscated and destroyed after Qatar-based Al Jazeer television showed soldiers at a Bible class on a base with a stack of Bibles translated into the local Pashto and Dari languages. The U.S. military forbids its members on active duty -- including those based in places like Afghanistan -- from trying to convert people to another religion.
Reuters quotes Maj. Jennifer Willis at the Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, who said "I can now confirm that the Bibles shown on Al Jazeera's clip were, in fact, collected by the chaplains and later destroyed. They were never distributed."
According to the military officials, the Bibles were sent through private mail to an evangelical Christian soldier by his church back home. Reuters says the soldier brought them to the Bible study class where they were filmed.
The Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, told a Pentagon briefing Monday that the military's position is that it will never "push any specific religion."
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Afghan calls for Bible distribution probe.
KABUL, Afghanistan, May 4 (UPI) -- A former Afghan official says an investigation should be conducted into U.S. soldiers allegedly trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
Ahmed Shah Ahmedzai, Afghanistan's former prime minister, said footage shot by a U.S. documentary filmmaker showing U.S. military chaplains at Bagram Air Force base discussing how to distribute Pashto language copies of the Bible to Muslims reveals a violation of regulations, Al Jazeera reported Monday.
"This is a complete deviation from what they (the U.S. military) are supposed to be doing," Ahmedzai said. "I don't think even the U.S. Constitution would allow what they are doing … it is completely against all regulations. This is very damaging for diplomatic relations between the two countries."
The footage, which was obtained and broadcast by Al Jazeera, also showed a sermon delivered by Lt. Col. Gary Hensley, chief of U.S. military chaplains in Afghanistan, telling soldiers that, as followers of Jesus Christ, they all have a responsibility "to be witnesses for him."
"There is no effort to go out and proselytize to Afghans," U.S. Col. Greg Julian told the broadcaster. "Most of this is taken out of context … . This is irresponsible and inappropriate journalism."
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