US Troops were sent to Afghanistan by the Bush Administration to hunt down Osama Bin Laden hiding among the taliban controlled hills. But at the age of Barack Obama, US Military Soldiers are fulfilling a different mission among afghans. Instead of hunting Obama, the troops hunt down afghan men and women to convert from Islam to Christianity. Although the US Armed Forces are facing a tough allegations of their blurred mission on Afghanistan, the officials however denied the accusations. But Al Jazeera Television based on Qatar have proof. Footage released by the network showed US troops possesing bibles that are published under the Pashtu and Dari languages, the two main languages of the Afghans. In the said video, the Pastor even said to the congregation, “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.”

Some critics contend that the cause of this conversion activities is partly due to the infiltration and influence of the Conservative Evangelicals among officials of the Military which pressured troops to convert or conform.

My Take:

I believe there is nothing wrong with evangelization because basically it is the duty of all Christians to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world. There is also nothing wrong with having an expression of faith in the military since in the past, soldiers were originally motivated by their religious convictions, whether they are christians or moors alike. I don’t see any demarcation line that says that having a prayer meeting or being spiritually active on the church while on duty violates any clear separation of Church and State. In my own understanding, the duty to protect is that of the state, but the duty to worship is that of the church. So I think there is no conflict between those two. I also don’t see any violation when Christians try to convert Muslims even if it is prohibited under the law of a certain country. Rome once has this kind of law yet Peter, Paul and the early Christians carried on their duty to spread the gospel and promote Jesus Christ, which after 300 years, bore fruit and even became the official state religion of Pagan Rome.

Yet with all this scenario, there remains some problems when it comes to converting moslems especially in Afghanistan. First, why do these troops publish Bibles translated into Pashto and Dari when in fact they themselves doesn’t speak the language or understand some of them. I mean how can you expect evangelization when the evangelizer doesn’t even know how to speak the word of God to the locals? Merely distributing them is an abuse against the word of God since the Holy Bible may be interpreted wrong by the people they are trying to convert and there is no way for them to correct or clarify it because they don’t speak the language. One rule in missionary work is learning to adapt and when we say adapt, adapt with the locals, even learning their dialects. It seems to me that they are just using the bible to gather numbers and not propagate the word itself.

Second, why deny it? Why hide the fact that you actually convert Moslems. I mean where is the balls and the guts in that? Christians has been known to be strong, firm, honest and brave when it comes to public persecution and pressures like this, but why go to the extent of denying it? Why oh Why? Peter, is that you?

Third, if the allegations that the Military is influenced by Christian right-wing evangelicals and that they pressure soldiers to convert and conform are indeed true, then the manner of the promotion of the faith is wrong. Faith should be free and in own volition of the individual. It is not coerced or forced on anyone. If in this case, troops are forced to convert and conform with the evangelicals, then there is already a violation of separation of church and state since officials give orders to their immediate inferiors and subordinates by the power and authority vested on them by the state and not by the Church they serve.

Clearly, the effort to convert moslems to Christianity is there, but the manner and ways are all wrong. Like what I said, they seem to dwell more in increasing their numbers rather than increasing the awareness and knowledge of Jesus Christ by their members. If this is the case, then its not conversion at all but coercion.

Below is the said controversial footage released by Al Jazeera

source: Reuters