Posted on 05/25/2009 10:18:20 AM PDT by CARepublicans
URGENT NEW PETITION for our troops and chaplains. Please click, sign, WE WILL FAX your petition automatically to 435 members of Congress (saving you hours of labor!)
BREAKING NEWS: Pentagon Burns Soldiers Bibles - Military Chaplains Attacked
A Pentagon spokesman under the Obama Administration has just acknowledged seizing and burning the privately owned Bibles of American soldiers serving in Afghanistan. The Bibles had been printed in the local Pashto and Dari languages, and sent by private donors last year to American Christian soldiers and chaplains, for distribution to American troops on overseas military bases during optionally-attended Christian worship services. Had the Bibles not been recently seized and destroyed, they could have legally been given as gifts during off-duty time to Afghani citizens who welcome our troops in their homes, as an expression of American gratitude for Afghani hospitality, promoting the democratic ideals of freedom of religion and freedom of the press.
But the Muslim controlled Al Jazeera television network obtained video footage of the Bibles, held by American soldiers while listening to a chaplain on the Bagram Air Base (inside the base chapel) whose sermon encouraged outreach and personal evangelism. The American values of freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of Christian speech offended some extremist Muslim groups, and angered a small group of American atheists, who demanded the chaplain be punished for "proselytizing" because he simply repeated Jesus' words to "Go and make disciples of all nations" in church. (Can you imagine their outrage if we burned the Koran, instead of the Bible?)
PLEASE SELECT HERE TO SIGN, AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 435 U.S. CONGRESSMEN, DEFENDING OUR CHAPLAINS AND SOLDIERS RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS.
IT'S NOT PROSELYTIZING, IT'S EVANGELISM:
The video proves the chaplain properly explained U.S. Central Command's General Order Number One, which prohibits "proselytizing" (forcing religious conversions by threats or weapons) but fully permits soldiers of any religion to engage in non-threatening "evangelism" (voluntary conversations about their faith) and legally allows giving private gifts, including books, to Afghani citizens during off-duty hours in their unofficial capacity. The Al Jazeera film-maker Brian Hughes also admitted the Bibles could have been useful in helping soldiers learn the Pashto and Dari languages of the Afghan people.
Instead, the privately owned Bibles were confiscated and destroyed. Caving in to pressure from the Muslims and Atheist groups, the U.S. military spokesman Maj. Jennifer Willis told Reuters reporters, "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." When questioned about the authenticity of the Al Jazeera video, U.S. Army Colonel Greg Julian admitted the Al Jazeera reporting was biased against the American Christians: "Most of this is taken out of context ... this is irresponsible and inappropriate journalism."
GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR ENCOURAGED EVANGELISM
After World War II, in order to carry out the democratization of Japan, Five-Star General Of The Army Douglas MacArthur brought Christian leaders to the country to meet with Emperor Hirohito and encouraged mass distribution of Bibles to the population. MacArthur later stated to a visiting American churchman, "We must have ten thousand Christian missionaries and a million Bibles to complete the occupation of this land."
(Source: Rodger R. Venzke, Confidence In Battle - Inspiration In Peace, 1977, p.24-25.)
But today, instead of confronting Muslim and Atheist enemies of religious liberty, President Obama's Four-Star Admiral Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Mike Mullen now appears to defend the destruction of the soldiers' privately owned Bibles, stating during a Pentagon briefing that the military's position is that it will never "push any specific religion." He did not address the possibility that by seizing and burning privately owned Bibles, the Obama Administration is now enforcing state atheism upon our troops.
PLEASE SELECT HERE TO SIGN, AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 435 U.S. CONGRESSMEN, DEFENDING OUR CHAPLAINS AND SOLDIERS RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS.
(After you sign the petition, please donate generously to help us defend religious liberty for our military. Part of your donation will go toward shipping Pashto Bibles to Afghanistan.)
ATHEISTS JOIN MUSLIM EXTEMISTS AGAINST LIBERTY
Aggressive anti-Christian secularist Mikey Weinstein immediately demanded the chaplain in the video be court-martialed for encouraging voluntary evangelism in church, despite the Pentagon's claim that same chaplain somehow assisted in confiscating the Bibles. I can personally attest, as the former Navy Chaplain who endured court-martial in 2006 for praying "in Jesus name" in uniform outside of Sunday chapel, (but was later vindicated by Congress), that anti-Christian forces are powerfully at work in some parts of the U.S. military.
But together, we fought back and won! Over 300,000 Americans, 85% of polled citizens, and 75 Congressmen agreed with me, so the entire Congress rescinded the same anti-Jesus policy the Navy enforced during my court-martial, restoring liberty to other chaplains who pray publicly "in Jesus name." (That victory on Capitol Hill cost my 16-year career and pension, and was not grandfathered back to my case.) Angered by our victory, the enemies of religious liberty won't be satisfied until every Christian is silenced, and every chaplain booted from the military like I was, for the "crime" of worshiping in public.
COURT-MARTIAL THE ARMY CHIEF OF CHAPLAINS?
The favorite new ploy of Mikey Weinstein's anti-Christian group (Military Religious Freedom Foundation) is to frighten troops into silence by "demanding the court-martial" of any soldier or chaplain who talks publicly about his or her faith. For example, incredibly, Weinstein recently demanded the Army court-martial their Chief of Chaplains Major General Douglas Carver, because Chaplain Carver issued a proclamation calling for a day of prayer and fasting for our troops.
The Chief of Chaplains' proclamation called for voluntary prayer by chaplains of all diverse faiths to act "in keeping with your religious traditions," and support our troops who face difficult traumas, pressures and temptations toward suicide. Carver consulted with two senior Jewish chaplains before issuing the proclamation.
But Mikey Weinstein claims that no chaplain can encourage prayer or Bible reading without violating what he pretends is a Constitutional mandate separating church from state. "These inciteful actions are grossly offensive to not only Muslims in Afghanistan and across the world, but to all those who hold faith in the U.S. Constitution," said Weinstein of the troops' Bibles.
Ironically Weinstein's own web-site contains pictures of atheist soldiers, soliciting donations for Weinstein while wearing their full dress uniform, without any apparent legal disclaimer that their anti-Christian views do not represent the views of the U.S. military.
PLEASE SELECT HERE TO SIGN, AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 435 U.S. CONGRESSMEN, DEFENDING OUR CHAPLAINS AND SOLDIERS RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS.
WILL CONGRESS PROTECT CHAPLAINS RIGHTS?
We can report without bias that in June 2009, the U.S. Congress will again consider a bi-partisan bill supporting military chaplains rights, co-sponsored by two North Carolina Congressmen, Mike McIntyre (D-NC) and Walter Jones (R-NC), in the House Armed Services Committee. The pro-chaplain bill, H.R. 268, would simply guarantee military chaplains of all diverse faiths the right to pray publicly according to the dictates of their conscience. You can read the details in my article about that bill, which was published by the Washington Times on 7 May 09, here.
To pass that bill into law, the two North Carolina Congressmen will first need several more co-sponsors, and the blessing of the House Armed Services Committee. Then they'll need some bi-partisan Senators to initiate a Senate version. Will your own Congressman or Senator co-sponsor religious freedom for chaplains? Perhaps you might call your own Congressman at 202-225-3121, to voice your opinion about H.R. 268.
But remember, 100 emails = 10 phone calls = 1 fax in political capital, since the Congressional staffers must handle each paper and usually write a reply. So please join our automated fax-petition campaign first, and we will fax all 435 Congressmen on your behalf.
Then please forward this email to your own pastor, and to all your military friends, and download here a church flyer that pastors can copy and distribute. But first, take action right now! I pray you will not hesitate, but sign the petition and WE WILL FAX your petition right away, automatically to all 435 Congressmen.
PLEASE SELECT HERE TO SIGN, AND WE'LL AUTOMATICALLY FAX YOUR PERSONALIZED PETITION TO ALL 435 U.S. CONGRESSMEN, DEFENDING OUR CHAPLAINS AND SOLDIERS RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS.
(After you sign the petition, please donate generously to help us defend religious liberty for our military. Part of your donation will go toward shipping Pashto Bibles to Afghanistan.)
God Bless you, in Jesus' name,
Chaplain Gordon James Klingenschmitt
P.S. Time is urgent! The House Armed Services Committee could consider chaplains rights as early as this coming week. Please don't wait another minute. Religious liberty, and our troops are too valuable to be silenced by anti-Christian extremists.
DONATIONS supporting public religious education CAN ALSO BE MAILED TO: Chaplain Klingenschmitt, PO Box 77077, Colorado Springs, CO 80970
Disclaimer: The views of Chaplain Klingenschmitt, who was honorably but involuntarily discharged from the Navy in 2007 after facing court-martial for praying "in Jesus name" in uniform, (but was later vindicated by Congress), are his own personal views
CLICK HERE TO TAKE ACTION: https://secure.conservativedonations.com/pijn_fax_chaplains/?a=2443
Actually, the military has ALWAYS kept members from handing out Bibles in muslim countries. Sorry, but evangelizing isn’t a proper activity for the military in Afghanistan.
He is right. Unless you are a special forces unit(whos job is to become friends with the locals) you aren’t getting free time off base to go chat it up with the locals.
No, they shouldn’t have burned them ... I would imagine the costs were pretty steep to get a good translation, to print/bind, and then ship halfway around the world. Terrible loss. They could have offered the Chaplain(s) the option to return to sender or store, whatever (at sender’s cost).
The military just isn’t in the business of handling this type of situation. They DO have a war to fight, troops to protect. Burning was probably just the most expedient way of getting rid of them. No packing/shipping/storing time and costs. I suppose burning/destroying is how the military handles unsolicited and/or inappropriate gifts.
Oh my South Speak was showing there.
I was in total agreement with him.
Sorry ‘bout that.
Time to riot and burn some mosques I guess </s>
My bad. It is hard to tell when a joke is present in a thread like this.
I still am curious as to from whence csme the order. Burning implies disdain and derision. Let’s put it another way — would they have burned the Koran under similar circumstances?
Are you forgetting that the appropriate way to dispose of a U.S. flag is burning ? The official U.S. flag retirement is a ceremony that ends with its being burned. Not the hippie flag burnings.
I don’t think it means necessarily disdain or derision. It sure as hell means final ;)
I’m glad to see that some sanity reigns.
Right you are Sir.
In fact, The American Legion will take worn out Flags and store them for their Flag Ceremonies. It’s a great Ceremony to take the kids/grandkids to.
But I’m willing to bet it all that there was no rite or ceremony attendant to this Bible burning, and you didn’t answer as to whether or not you believed that the Koran would have received the same treatment. It is not a moot issue; it is a question of preferential policy.
Threads labeled “SHOCKER” rarely are. They are most often misstated and out of context...like this one.
Lets find out how many bibles were destroyed and then organize a Koran burning of the same number...
See how that goes down...
If they distributed those bibles to the locals it would be very damaging to our war effort and a death sentence to the person who accepted it and maybe the US troops (distribution to the locals is why they were sent). It’s not like the US troops could read them in Pashtoon and Darhi. They shouldn’t have burned them they should have hauled them out of the country.
Burning on the other hand was a big mistake too from a local PR standpoint. It tells the locals that the Koran is more important than the Bible and we don’t respect our holy books like they do the Koran. The officer who ordered them burned should be reprimanded as should the chain of command that knew about the burning and did nothing to stop it.
These weren’t for the soldiers personal use to read and study. They were distributed for proselytizing the Muslims by the group who provided them (bringing the Good Word to the heathen). Most of our troops don’t read the languages these bibles were printed in. The problem is it’s a death sentence for someone to convert to Christianity and for someone to proselytize a Muslim. Even the threat of prioritization by US troops will inflame the entire countryside against us. The bibles should have been hauled out of the county and either returned to those who gave them or warehoused.
Read the article I posted at #15.
Your question doesn’t fit within the context of the case in point. I am not a JAG ... BUT ... the military operates under pretty strict rules and regulations.
The local-language Bibles were sent for US troops to distribute while evangelizing local peoples in a land we are trying to free (not occupy), most of whom one presumes are Muslims. They were sent clearly for conversion purposes. Who’s going to send the Koran to US troops to convert Muslims to Islam ?
Taking a hypothetical: If there were a Christian-dominated country that US troops were fighting in and a CAIR-like entity sent copies of the Koran to Muslim troops who would go out and try to convert Christians to Islam, would the US military burn those Korans? I’m thinking their regulations might require it, but again, I am not a JAG or even garden-variety lawyer. IF that is the military’s normal procedure for disposing of unsolicited materials, they should and probably would be burned, as were the Bibles, without ceremony.
We all know that Muslim mobs burned and killed just because some Danish cartoonist dared poke at Mohammed, and went on further rampages because Newsweek published what turned out to be a false rumor about flushing a Koran down a toilet. We all know that the US Armed Forces provides copies of the Koran to its Muslim prisoners; we also know that Koran is a real ‘best seller’ in US prisons. None of that falls under the jurisdiction of the US military that has a job to do in Afghanistan, and doesn’t need an independent group to come in and advance evangelizing by US troops which is, regardless of the religion, a needlessly provocative act that is counter to US military interests.
Appalling. Have they no concern for Global Warming? The Bibles should have been pulped.
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