Credit to soy_esteban for bringing this discussion to my attention.An American church sent unsolicited copies of Pashto and Dari translations of the New Testament to a church member deployed in Afghanistan last year. When the copies were discovered, military leadership determined that the Bibles were a danger to troop safety, as the local Muslim populace could begin seeing the U.S. military presence as an evangelistic force.
As such, the Bibles were discarded and eventually burned to eliminate the possibility that they would give the impression that the U.S. government was distributing Bibles.
According to military spokesmen, everything was done according to policy and no disrespect was intended. "Troops at posts in war zones are required to burn their trash," according to Lt. Col. Mark Wright.
Asbury Prof. Ben Witherington sees the event as more significant than that. Responding to Wright's explanation he asks, "Is the Bible trash?" He concludes that this shows that the official U.S. policy is "not particularly Christian," even under ostensibly Christian leaders like George Bush, and that real Christians would refuse to burn the Bible, even under orders.
Carl Moeller, president of the evangelistic Open Doors USA, says that this event should "really shake the core of every Christian."
Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis takes a middle path, stating that from a military perspective, the Bibles should have been sent back, not destroyed, and notes that if this were a set of Korans, the ramifications would be astounding.
What do you think? Is this a big deal? Is your core shaken? Or would you have a problem burning a set of Bibles under orders?
-NDSR
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Comments (39)
This is good... I am not sure what to say yet, so I will look at other comments before I get an opinion of my own.
I think i am glad i am not in the military.
=\ Seriously? Because burning a book of which there are millions of copies of in many of the languages of the world is a more immediate issue to the 'core of every Christian' than snuffing out another human life? Part of being a soldier is following orders.
Bibles, flags, and Korans can be piled up and burned but it does not do any damage to what they symbolize. It was probably wrong to burn them, but no more wrong then flushing a Koran in a toilet. From a purely diplomatic standpoint, it is pretty important that we not be seen as Christian crusaders.
From one stand point I can see the reasons behind why they were destroyed instead of simply returned. It would have cost more than it was worth to send them back. On the other hand I would be upset that the bibles weren't just kept in a place where they would have only been seen by the service member they were sent to, or possibly donated to the chaplins who serving in that area. At the very least they could have contacted the church and explained the situation so that they could have had the chance to pay for the return shipping cost. In a nuttshell, I think that the situation could have been dealt with differently and if I were the one ordered to burn them I would have tried to find a different solution first.
I don't disagree with what the military did. I also agree that US policy is "not particularly Christian", and that this is the way it should be. We shouldn't be over there in the first place, and it would do even more harm if the people of Afghanistan realized that not only are we unnecessarily involving ourselves in their public lives, we are also trying to "convert" them from a religion that is theirs. Nick Don, what do you think?
It would upset me. I don't think I could destroy God's word. I'd pray that I have enough conviction to remember that if times get bad enough if I'm still alive.
Oh, and the Bible is definitely NOT trash.
"Asbury Prof. Ben Witherington sees the event as more significant than that. Responding to Wright's explanation he asks, "Is the Bible trash?" He concludes that this shows that the official U.S. policy is "not particularly Christian," even under ostensibly Christian leaders like George Bush, and that real Christians would refuse to burn the Bible, even under orders."
I dislike this bit. We are NOT a Christian nation, ergo it doesn't matter if the military does something "not particularly Christian." We're in a war for fuck's sake, that in itself is not particularly Christian!
This is just another load of crap that could have been avoided by people being smarter about what actions they take.
Jesus (the Word in flesh) allowed his body to be destroyed for our sake, as well as for the sake of the soldiers and Muslims that could have been killed through a conflict over this issue. I think it's easy to see where I'm going with this.
So why didn't they just send them back? At the very least they are the property of someone.
Ben
I am a big supporter of Open Doors in my country. I find the words of Open Doors US surprising. Afghanistan until five years ago was No 1 at the top of their list as the most closed country. I think the church who sent the unsolicited Bibles should take responsibility. The Bibles should never have been sent. However well meaning the church was being it is arrogance to just send them when it has not worked before. Its why people don't just send Bibles into Afghanistan. I feel sorry for the guy who had to burn them but its because a church did not follow orders in the first place.
Church's fault. Very stupid thing to do
I spent 9 years in the military, and among the many things I learned, military officials lack tact. They are mission oriented, and rightly so.
1) It would be an additional expense to send the Bibles back. They were unsolicited and frankly, I don't think any of us would be pleased about paying postage for sending back something we didn't ask for in the first place.
2) Burning is also the respectful way of disposing of an old flag. A wise military leader would've used that illustration, vice "trash."
3) If I had been given the orders, I would've carried them out with a prayer in my heart. As was pointed out, the Bible is not in short supply these days. Those in the military have easy access to it. Those in Afghanistan are probably unlikely to be looking to the American military to find a copy.
It is the words that are sacred - not the physical paper they are printed on. However, had I been that soldier, I would have returned the Bibles to the person who sent them with an explanation that I cannot distribute them without endangering the unit I am stationed with.
I dislike the burning of any book, I don't care what it is, so I think it would have been better to send them back albeit the effort would be expensive. However, it should have been made clear to the troops in the first place not to bring them since it is very, very true that Muslim populations can easily take offense or alarm, even to being radicalized, by the very suspicion of evangelists amongst them. As conversion from Islam to any other religion is an offense punishable by very gruesome death (staking, crucifiction, or beheading) and Muslims do not want to see such bad things happening to their family members and friends, they typically will not tolerate evangelists amongst them.
My co-worker, for instance, was stationed in Saudi during the Gulf war and one of the soliders in his troop was a secret evangelist who'd brought his Bible and was busy converting Saudis. Mind you, the message itself is often appealing to them, but its against the law in a BIG way. As a result, the soldier evangelist managed to convert several natives only to end up being forced with his entire battalion to watch all of them get beheaded. Ordinarily, he would have been beheaded as well, but was given a measure of mercy - the way a retarded or crazy person might - at the kings dispensation. He just wasn't allowed to remain in Saudi.
All that being considered, you have to wonder about fighting on the side of people that can turn on you like a pack of wolves just for whatever you might happen to believe. Is it really worth it?
They didn't take someone's bible away and burn it, there was no attempt made at censorship and they were trying to save the lives of our troops.
Kudos and keep up the good work.
Here is the thing; that I am surprised the other commentors didn't mention. When in other countries be it a war zone or not members of the US military not only have to follow the laws and regulations of the United States, and military law but they also have to follow the laws of the country they are in. In many Muslim countries possesion of non-muslim religious material is a criminal offense punishable by death. There are many things that soldiers are not allowed to have on deployments to combat zones and in this instance the bible happens to be one of them because it could get them killed. So these books were burned for the safety of the entire unit. So what you really have to ask is: would you die before you burned a Bible? Is saving a Bible from being burned worth dying for?
Honestly for me I don't think that the Christian God would be too pleased with this veneration of the Bible. After all in Exodus he speaks of the evils of Idol worship, yet modern Christians seem to feel the need to make idols out of Crosses, Bibles,Crucifixes and momuments of the Ten Commandments. The thing is you can keep your faith without the outter trappings because it is what is in your heart, and somehow I don't think that the Lord would be upset over burning a printed book in order to keep from breaking laws and putting other people at risk for your belief.
While burning a book (any book) is not a good thing this decision has valid reasons that just weren't explained within the text of this article. Though personally, bibliophile that I am, I don't see any book worth risking the lives of others for; myself is one thing but I wouldn't put others at risk over a book- no matter what book that is. But then that is just my two cents.
As an author, you always cherish a secret hope that your book will become well-known and controversial enough for it to be burned. It's one of the most effective kinds of publicity you can possibly get.
Now if we could just get it banned in Boston....
@HeartOfPandora - I agree completely and isn't it great that we have soldiers of all faith, and oh wait yeah we have the freedom to pursue whatever religious belief we wish too- I think many evangelicals forget that the first settlers of this country were fleeing the rule of one church over an entire country because they were not allowed to believe as they wished. How this gets forgotten so much-I don't understand and granted they were christian but that does not mean that they didn't learn to prize the ideal of freedom to choose over enforcing their beliefs on others. but many people seem to forget that in their rants about a "Christian nation". Oh and on the thing about this action not being "very Christian"- need we remind them of the part of the constitution that says there shall be no religious test to serve the country - last time I checked you didn't have to be christian to be in the military.
I was unsure of what to think when I first saw the article.
Under the circumstances, I suppose I'd let it go. As was said before, the Bible is not in short supply to the military. I am not sure how available it is to the region where this happened.
A general rule of thumb = burning Bibles is not a good thing, however this was a government/military issue. I agree that "that this shows that the official U.S. policy is "not particularly Christian." No surprise there.
There is not any pressing danger that the Word of God would be wiped out by this action. I suppose, in this circumstance, it would be "ok". But I could be wrong.
It bothers me not because it's the Bible, but because they are books, and the burning of books has a symbolic power beyond the content of the actual book. What is the expression? "Whey they burn books, people are next."
They were, I believe, right to confiscate the books, given religious tensions in the area, and the number of books in those languages does suggest an attempt to convert people. Given the history of the Crusades, it is not appropriate for an occupying military force to do that. So confiscation I agree with, but not the way they disposed of them.
I think they did the right thing. "Sending them back" is not as simple as it sounds. If a military transport convoy was attacked (and it was carrying the mail) and those were discovered, it would have been viewed that the military was there to be an evangelistic force....which is not fair to those who have not chosen to follow Christ.
Now, if someone who is following Christ wants to take that risk to get the word of G-D in people's heart language to people, then more power to them and I pray for their safety.
It's no more wrong than the millions of Gideon new testaments that get thrown away on college campuses every fall.
Anyone reading those Bibles would have a hard time mistaking the U.S. Military (with their guns, tanks and various forms of force) for citizens of Jesus' kingdom who are working to spread the Gospel. I wouldn't expect the U.S. Military to fully comprehend that though.
My core is a bit shook but it all makes sense.
i can see there point; however, they should have handled it differently. they should have sent the copies back, or kept one copy (and kept it private) so those who wanted to read it could. they didn't have to burn it...