Photo: Bibles in a church inside a U.S. military base in Baghdad. Samuel Aranda / AFP-Getty Images From Newsweek:
The growing controversy over military chaplains using the armed forces to spread the Word.
Ever since former president George W. Bushreferred to the war on terror as a “crusade” in the days after the September 11 attacks, many have charged that the United States was conducting a holy war, pitting a Christian America against the Muslim world. That perception grew as prominent military leaders such as Lt. Gen. William Boykin described the wars in evangelical terms, casting the U.S. military as the "army of God." Although President Obama addressed the Muslim world this month in an attempt to undo the Bush administration's legacy of militant Christian rhetoric that often antagonized Muslim countries, several recent stories have framed the issue as a wider problem of an evangelical military culture that sees spreading Christianity as part of its mission.
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My Comment: Halfway through this article I started to laugh. Most soldiers have better things to do than listen to a religious sermon .... and when they do need God .... and most soldiers usually do in the middle of a war zone .... God always find a way to be there. As for distributing a book like the Bible .... I say "so what". I am sure that Iraqis or Afghanis are sophisticated and intelligent enough to understand what the Bible is, and whether they want to read the book or not. My prediction .... only a minuscule proportion will.
The problem with this Newsweek article is that it totally ignores the bigger issue .... an issue that Newsweek will not dare touch. It is the use of the Koran by militant Islamists (like Al Qaeda and their allies) to spread Jihad against those who they perceive as a threat to their objectives. A few chaplains and the rhetoric of a few politicians may concern Newsweek, but for me it is the support among millions within the Islamic world of jihad and Al Qaeda's brand of Islam that concerns me.