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It's not proselytizing, it's evangelism

Submitted by BrainArmor on May 29, 2009 - 9:57am.

Apparently there is a new bit of drivel being propagated via email:

BREAKING NEWS: Pentagon Burns Soldiers Bibles - Military Chaplains Attacked

The Pentagon 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 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 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.

Should you receive this bit of flotsam you can debunk it with this handy FactCheck.org link.

As it turns out:

1. This was under the Bush administration.
2. Nobody knows how the bibles were disposed of.
3. The U.S. Central Command General Order 1 prohibits "proselytizing of any religion, faith, or practice."

Here is what the chaplain who was attempting to distribute these bibles has to say: