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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?)
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IT'S NOT PROSELYTIZING, IT'S EVANGELISM:
The 4 May 09 Al
Jazeera 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 Afghani Constitution likewise protects freedom of the
press and religion, so no laws were broken by
our troops, despite complaints by anti-Christian Muslim
extremists. The Al Jazeera film-maker Brian
Hughes even 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."
Her careful use of the words "later" and "now" indicate the Bibles
were destroyed this month, not last year, only after and because of
the recently publicized video.
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 atheistic
silence upon our troops, against their private
rights.
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.)
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