GIs Told to Bring Afghans to Jesus? U.S. military denies it . . .

May 04, 2009

Knight Ridder/Tribune

DOHA, Qatar -- U.S. 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 U.S. air base at Bagram were also filmed with Bibles printed in the country's main Pashto and Dari languages.

In one recorded sermon, Lt. Col. Gary Hensley, the chief of the U.S. 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 . . . Get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do, that's our business," he says.

read: http://www.military.com/news/article/gis-told-to-bring-afghans-to-jesus.html?col=1186032310810


U.S. denies letting troops convert Afghans

KABUL, May 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. military denied on Monday it has allowed soldiers to try to convert Afghans to Christianity, after a television network showed pictures of soldiers with bibles translated into local languages.

U.S. military spokeswoman, Major Jennifer Willis, said the comments from the sermon were taken out of context and chaplains were told to make clear to soldiers that they could not proselytise while serving.

She said the bibles had been mailed to a soldier by a church back home in the United States and were never distributed.

"That specific case involved a soldier who brought in a donation of translated bibles that were sent to his personal address by his home church. He showed them to the group and the chaplain explained that he cannot distribute them," she said.

"The translated bibles were never distributed as far as we know, because the soldier understood that if he distributed them he would be in violaion of general order 1, and he would be subject to punishment."

read: http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSISL419952

Tell the people there that their religion is bogus and that they need to convert. That'll work, for sure. Feh!