Soldiers In Afghanistan Given Bibles, Told To "Hunt People For Jesus" (VIDEO)

A U.S. church raised money to send Bibles, printed in the Pashtu and Dari languages, to American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, a report on Al Jazeera documented Sunday night.

It is against military rules to proselytize -- a regulation one of the soldiers filmed by the network readily acknowledged. "You cannot proselytize, but you can give gifts," says the soldier. It is a crime in Afghanistan to attempt to convert anyone from Islam to any other religion. "I also want to praise God because my church collected some money to get Bibles for Afghanistan. They came and sent the money out." The footage is said to be roughly a year old.

The Al Jazeera report also shows a military preacher urging army parishioners to "hunt people for Jesus."

"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.

A White House spokesman referred questions to the Department of Defense, which did not immediately return a call. A military spokesman did tell Reuters, however, that none of the Bibles were, as far as she knew, ever actually 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," said Major Jennifer Willis.

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

President Bush created an international uproar when he referred to the "war on terror" as a "crusade."

UPDATE: A defense official tells the Huffington Post that the preacher did not mean that soldiers should hunt for Afghani souls, but was speaking in general terms. He also said that the Pashtun and Dari Bibles were confiscated so that they could not be distributed to the population.

WATCH:

Ryan Grim is the author of the forthcoming book This Is Your Country On Drugs: The Secret History of Getting High in America

Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

Comments

[amyliu]

12:20 AM on 05/12/2009

There's another good discussion going on about this video at Blogged.com. http://www.blogged.com/login.php

[FutureLogic]

11:41 AM on 05/07/2009

Dear friends,

This is very very unfortunate and needs to be condemned by every Human. Christianity and Islam are inherently intolerant religions by their "My God is true, rest are false' dictum. One claims to be religion of Love and another claims it's religion of Peace. Truth is both are a farce and a disgrace to civilization. Though there are decent Christians and Muslims around the world the religions per se are flawed. The sooner humanity abandons these two semitic faiths the better for world peace. I know this sounds bitter but that's the reality that we have to adopt. If spirituality is the need then adopt several other pluarlistic faiths ( Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism etc., ) else choose to go atheist. But just abandon these two for common good, for the sake of universal brotherhood.

Thank you
http://victimofprejudice.blogspot.com/

[Saidas]

11:17 AM on 05/07/2009

Attention All Christians! Not another word of criticism for other religiions. Your narrow mindedness and intolerance is no different from theirs. How can you say the God is All Powerful yet think he needs your help with saving souls?

[2sunny]

11:06 AM on 05/07/2009

These "hunt them down......" people are, 'coocoo-'coocoo !!

[Pegasys]

10:46 AM on 05/07/2009

I guess the only goog muslim is a christian muslim?!?

[indothinker]

08:29 AM on 05/07/2009

i can't believe that this happened. i'm sure j e s u s would approve...

[marleysghost]

07:34 AM on 05/07/2009

We will surely lose if we keep up this nonsense. I cannot believe - yes I can - the intolerance, hubris, and downright ignorance of so-called Christian groups who use other people's misery as a wedge to preach to them. I hate it when when these people come to my door, because what I believe is none of their business. Leave these people alone because now WE look like the extremists. too. That's all they need, to be caught between two rival extreme versions of belief. I can guarantee you they will not move over to Christianity. It is a death sentence in their culture. Can we get any stupider????

[Jonahson]

05:22 AM on 05/07/2009

Karma from the crusade era. When will they ever learn. When will they ever learn

[aofh]

02:38 AM on 05/07/2009

Having read Sharlet's article in Harpers, I am suspicious that the bombings that killed the civilians in Afghanistan that SoS Clinton and President Obama are apologizing for were orchestrated by overzealous senior commanders in the field. I am concerned that these "Christian soldiers" are undermining US policy and that our armed forces have the same problem the Pakistani army is alleged to have with Taliban sympathizers. I fear that their commander-in-chief is their god and that they will do whatever is necessary to provoke a fight with whomever they see as the enemy, i.e. anyone who does not look, think or believe as they do. If the military can't see a way out of Afghanistan and Iraq, perhaps it is because they have a different agenda than the civilian administration and the majority of the American people.

[charon]

01:55 AM on 05/07/2009

My god how outrageous! These fanatical christians have brought nothing but deep shame upon America. For shame, for shame!

[PaceSetter]

01:21 AM on 05/07/2009

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/6/the_crusade_for_a_christian_military

"It [Fundamentalist Christianity] ...is in the very particulate of the technologically most lethal organization ever created by humankind, which is our US military. It’s everywhere. We’re about two inches away, you know, from a fundamentalist Christian America through our US military."

Sarah Palin and her Dominionist fellow travelers are armed, trained and and ready to "hunt people for Christ"

[antifluff]

07:28 AM on 05/07/2009

Compared to the people that keel others for A11ah, Xtians simply share a story, once they do that it is up to the listener to choose, unlike is1am.

[SunlightAndShadows]

11:35 PM on 05/06/2009

I think it's kind of inappropriate for the soldiers who actually blow your children up to then come in and visit you in hospital. To me, that's just nasty.

Also, someone proselytised me after I was 11 years old and hit by a car. 3 day coma. You're not in a rational state of mind when you've just come out of a 3 day coma and are a child. This seems slimy to me, and makes my skin crawl.

[LeeCalif]

10:53 PM on 05/06/2009

Interesting. Chaplains tell their faithful to recruit. But the ones in their flock, like the women who get raped or the soldiers who have PTSD don't get the recognition or help they need.

But recruit, recruit, recruit.

[alwaysthere]

09:34 PM on 05/06/2009

It's kinda hard to ask delusion to be real

and the truth is "hatred"

don't care how we feel.

[LeeCalif]

10:55 PM on 05/06/2009

I just read your comment and it helped me understand.

[antifluff]

07:32 AM on 05/07/2009

Sounds like what Xtians were told by their com muni sts per sec utors.

[alwaysthere]

09:32 PM on 05/06/2009

All religions cry for decency
But only tolerance
Can help us to find it.

s.2009