Well holy heck, that was fast. I've barely just blogged about how idiotic and criminally short-sighted US soldiers in Afghanistan were trying to convert local Muslims into Christians, which of course could only help things (*bites knuckles*), when I get this report that said bibles have now been collected and destroyed. I guess when shit hits the Internet (particularly YouTube), it spreads out faster and further than hitting fans ever could allow it to.
Reuters News says the Bibles were confiscated and destroyed after Qatar-based Al Jazeer television showed soldiers at a Bible class on a base with a stack of Bibles translated into the local Pashto and Dari languages. The U.S. military forbids its members on active duty -- including those based in places like Afghanistan -- from trying to convert people to another religion.Reuters quotes Maj. Jennifer Willis at the Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, who said "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."
'Tis another good day, I guess. Explains why I woke up smiling this morning at 6:30 AM. (Which, believe me, NEVER happens.)
(via Pharyngula)
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That seems like an unneccessarily harsh punishment - sure, their actions were reprehensible, but why destroy the books, themselves?