There’s something terribly wrong when an American soldier overseas can’t receive Scriptures in the mail, but a Muslim chaplain can preach freely among al Qaeda and Taliban enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay.
This is a story of two soldiers, one Christian, one Muslim. It’s a cautionary tale that suggests how religious double standards and politically-driven hypersensitivity threaten not only our troops, but us all.
Five months ago, Jack Moody tried to send his son, Daniel, a CARE package containing a Bible study and other Christian religious materials. Daniel is a 21-year-old Army National Guardsman serving in the Middle East. He had written home requesting spiritual support while he risked his life abroad. The literature his dad packed included Christian comic books.
But when Daniel’s dad approached the post office in the family’s hometown of Lenoir, North Carolina, he was told he would not be allowed to send the items.
According to U.S.P.S. postal bulletin PB22097, section E2, Moody was forbidden from sending "any matter containing religious materials contrary to the Islamic faith or depicting seminude persons, pornographic or sexual items, or non-authorized political materials."
The postal clerk informed Moody that the Christian contents of the package might be considered offensive to some Muslims overseas. The policy was initiated during the first Gulf War.
“My son is in the military, and he's overseas fighting to free this country from tyranny, and to protect our rights and our freedoms, and here our government has a rule on the books that's limited his freedom. I just couldn't believe it,” Moody told the Voice of America news service.
Even more unbelievable was the apathetic reaction of Moody’s elected representatives. According to John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute, a staunch defender of religious liberty, Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s staff brushed Moody off. So did Dan Gurley, GOP Congressman Cass Ballenger’s chief of staff. According to Moody, Ballenger refused to get involved, insisting that the matter should be left to the courts.
And there’s where Moody’s case—which is included in the devastating new book Persecution, best-selling author David Limbaugh’s searing indictment of anti-Christian intolerance—remains today. The Rutherford Institute filed suit against the U.S. Postmaster General in defense of Moody’s rights to freedom of speech, free exercise of religion, and equal protection under the law. The group’s motion for summary judgment is pending.
Whitehead explains:
“The First Amendment prohibits our government from establishing a religion by favoring one over another. By stating that no material can be mailed if it is contrary to the Islamic religion, the U.S. Post Office has clearly shown deference to Islam above all other religions—and this definitely violates our Constitution.”
Contrast Daniel Moody’s treatment with that of Capt. James Yee. The Muslim convert, who studied in terror-sponsoring Syria and attended an Islamic cultural center run by the terror-friendly Saudi government, was given free rein by the U.S. Army to administer to the souls of al Qaeda and Taliban enemies at Guantanamo Bay.
Yee brought the detainees prayer beads and religious books, facilitated prayer services, and assisted them with Muslim food preparation. And he received lavish, fawning profiles in the “diversity-” and “tolerance-” obsessed mainstream press.
Now he has been charged with sedition, aiding the enemy, spying, espionage and failure to obey a general order. Treason charges may be added. Yee exploited our bent-over-backwards solicitude towards Muslims in the military by allegedly using his access to smuggle out diagrams of the detainees’ cells and lists of the names of the detainees and their interrogators.
More than half of the armed forces’ Muslim chaplains were trained by a terror-linked, Saudi-subsidized institute while military leaders blindly sung the praises of multiculturalism.
Islamist Fifth Columnists are benefiting from the very guarantees of religious freedom being denied to devout Christian soldiers such as Daniel Moody who are risking their lives for the War on Terror overseas.
This dangerous deference to radical Islam—rooted in a cowardly fear of offending—is not only a threat to our soldiers’ constitutionally protected rights, but to our national security.
so far fo the tolerance...
Source
I like Michelle Malkin, even talked to her once at Texas A&M, but the source you used for this article is demonized by lefties as a white supremacy site. Just wanted to throw that out there before someone else does. I read the site occasionally, and I haven't seen anything blatantly racist or anything inciting hatred, but I've been called a racist before for using this site.
Really? I did check the site out, and though it had a clear right-wing bent that some might be opposed to (heck, I'm opposed to it), it didn't seem racist or anything.format_quote Originally Posted by Keltoi
If you read the FAQ, you will notice they address the claim that they are a "white nationalist" group. You're right though, I haven't seen anything that would lead me to call them racists at all.format_quote Originally Posted by Muezzin
secular law is FLAWED the policies of the western nations are evidence, theres no need to go on and on you dont like us its obvious jus pipe down man....you make me sleepy
On the topic though, I find it sort of confusing. We sent a Bible to my cousin who is now serving in Iraq without difficulty. Perhaps we broke some kind of law?In any event, the justification is obviously flawed for preventing Christians from receiving religious items.
A reminder: This topic is not about secular law as such. Please keep the comments about the story, rather than the general issues it brings up (such as the War on Terror, Guantanamo Bay etc). There are already many threads discussing those.
I must have confused her name with somebody else's. I thought Malkin was just another Coulter.
Bible Belt missionaries set out on a 'war for souls' in Iraq
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 27/12/2003
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../27/wirq27.xml
American Christian missionaries have declared a "war for souls" in Iraq, telling supporters that the formal end of the US-led occupation next June will close an historic "window of opportunity".
Organising in secrecy, and emphasising their humanitarian aid work, Christian groups are pouring into the country, which is 97 per cent Muslim, bearing Arabic Bibles, videos and religious tracts designed to "save" Muslims from their "false" religion.
Mission from god: Jon Hanna and Jackie Cone after they visited Iraq
The International Mission Board, the missionary arm of the Southern Baptists, is one of those leading the charge.
John Brady, the IMB's head for the Middle East and North Africa, this month appealed to the 16 million members of his church, the largest Protestant denomination in America.
"Southern Baptists have prayed for years that Iraq would somehow be opened to the gospel," his appeal began. That "open door" for Christians may soon close.
"Southern Baptists must understand that there is a war for souls under way in Iraq," his bulletin added, listing Islamic leaders and "pseudo-Christian" groups also flooding Iraq as his chief rivals.
advertisementThe missionaries are mainly evangelicals who reject talk of Muslims and Christians worshipping the same God.
Jerry Vines, former head of the Southern Baptist Convention, has described the Prophet Mohammed as a "demon-obsessed paedophile". Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham and the head of Samaritan's Purse, a big donor to Iraq, has described Islam as a "very evil and wicked religion".
The missionaries pose a dilemma for President George W Bush. He has reached out to Muslims since September 11, shrugging off criticism from evangelicals to describe Islam as "peaceful". But Christian conservatives are also a key Bush constituency: Franklin Graham delivered the invocation prayer at his presidential inauguration.
The US Agency for International Development has said that the government cannot rein in private charities. "Imagine what the US Congress would say to us," said a spokesman in April.
Jon Hanna, an evangelical from Ohio who has recently returned from Iraq, applied for a new passport to travel there, describing himself as a humanitarian worker. "I was worried the US authorities might try to stop us, might be worried we were going to start a riot with our Bibles."
In Baghdad last month Mr Hanna met two other American missionary teams. One, from Indiana, had shipped in 1.3 million Christian tracts. "A US passport is all you need to get in, until the new Iraqi government takes over. What we thought was a two-year window, originally, has narrowed down to a six month window," said Mr Hanna, an evangelical minister and editor of Connection Magazine, a Christian newspaper in Ohio.
He describes Islam as "false". He cited St John's Gospel, saying: "Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist."
Mr Hanna concluded: "The Muslim religion is an antichrist religion." Later Mr Hanna asked to retract that choice of words. "Without the reader hearing my voice and looking into my eyes as I made that statement, it would be easy for certain readers to feel personally attacked and be offended," Mr Hanna wrote by email. "That would be unfruitful."
He rejected the suggestion that aid work was a "cover" for missionary work, preferring to call it a "conduit for sharing the gospel of Jesus. Christians are commanded to minister to the hungry, but also to the hunger of the spirit. It can't be separated," he said.
In public, the largest groups put the emphasis on their delivery of food parcels and their medical work. However, their internal fund-raising materials emphasise mission work. One IMB bulletin reported aid workers handing out copies of the New Testament and praying with Muslim recipients. Another bulletin said Iraqis understood "who was bringing the food . . . it was the Christians from America."
Southern Baptists from North Carolina visited Iraq in October to help hand out 45,000 boxes of donated food. One of the team, Jim Walker, told IMB's Urgent News bulletin that he met village children "starved of attention and I could tell some of them have not eaten well. But their biggest need is to know the love of Christ."
Mr Hanna said he encountered friendly curiosity, with noisy crowds gathering to take his group's tracts. "Maybe 10 per cent were hostile." He was one of 21 on his mission including Jackie Cone, 72, a Pentecostalist grandmother from Ohio who said God had told her to join a second mission planned for next year. "I sensed Him telling me to come back in January," she said.
Mrs Cone is confident she made converts in Baghdad. In her hotel she met a Muslim woman on crutches with a leg operation due that day. Mrs Cone knelt on the lobby floor and prayed that surgery would not be required.
"I saw her that evening and she said God had healed her, and she hadn't needed the surgery. She didn't say Allah, she pointed to Heaven and gave God the glory," she said.
Mrs Cone led the Kurdish woman and her brother in prayer, asking Jesus into their hearts. "I'd given them a Bible and a Jesus video in Arabic. I think they think of themselves as Christians now," she said. "They have the Bible and I hope they will grow in grace."
Muslims are hard converts, American missionaries admit. The large organisations have experts trained in refuting Muslim teachings that Jesus is just another prophet.
Before going to Iraq, Mr Hanna studied Christian training manuals and attended a seminar for missionaries to the Arab world.
Mr Hanna concedes his new Iraqi friends were possibly drawn by the novelty of meeting Americans. "But you don't discount that, you use it as an opportunity to tell them about Jesus. Last time we only took 8,000 Arabic Bibles to Iraq. In future missions the goal is one million."
:grumbling Where do people like this get off? The cheek!format_quote Originally Posted by PurestAmbrosia
Anyone heard if that group of Koreans in Afghnistan has converted anyone yet?
If a non-Muslim in a Muslim country is not permitted to receive a Christian publication in the mail (in order to not offend the predominant group) I do wonder what the fuss is all about if the French if the French want to restric the wearing of the hijab in French public schools.
I think one of them is dead.
So Im guessing that they havent converted many people.
Considering that to be a Christian today, you need no obvious signs of your faith-even though youre supposed to have them-whereas Muslim women still stick to principles like modest dress, then there is a difference. I dont think its right to say that people cant have bibles at all, but they are two different things.
Last edited by Thanaa; 07-26-2007 at 07:38 PM.
Relax, sister. They are not slicing anyone's head off. I find them (proselytizers) annoying too and I think they are waisting their time, but try to have a little perspective. Just say "no"format_quote Originally Posted by Thanaa
I suspect you are right. That is my point. They have succeded in making most of the Korean people mad at them and (with the help of the Taliban) hardening "Western" views (if Koreans will allow themselves to be called westerners) toward the Taliban (and likely Islam too).format_quote Originally Posted by Thanaa
They aren't going to convert anyone. They are more a danger to themselves and the NATO troops.
I know many Iraqis, those of them who are Christian in fact speak Aramaic, to modern day that is their language, many of them have actually pointed out in their churches what the Americans are doing, considering that their brand of Christianity has positively nothing to do with Christianity as the Iraqis conceive it to be...format_quote Originally Posted by Thanaa
You'd think a bunch of bible thumpers know more about the religion, than the inhabitants of the birth place of civilization and all Abrahamic religions.. I think somewhere in their warped minds, they think Abraham was from Dublin and Jesus from France?.. It is all too funny, as even the Iraqi Christians are disenchanted with the whole affair..
The whole point of my post was to counterbalance the absurdity of the first, with something other than a Muslim source, because I read of this stuff constantly...
Those who are true Muslims, can never go back to the arms of darkness and inequity... So don't worry about it, either way
But the French public schools are secular. They have also banned Christian symbols (eg., Crucifixes...I am pretty sure). If you live in France and want a free public education then you play be the rules of the nation in which you live. You want to wear a hijab to school, then go to a private school.format_quote Originally Posted by Thanaa
BTW..this limitation on items to be mailed was voluntarily imposed by an arm of the US governement in order to show cultural sensitivity. For a nation which is alleged to be conducting a War on Islam it seems a rather odd way to go about it.I think the author's point was the apparent double standard vis a vis Islamic sensisbilities.
ermm, pardon me, but the birthplace of civilisation is the african savannaformat_quote Originally Posted by PurestAmbrosia
out of WikipediaThe most widely accepted view among current anthropologists is that Homo sapiens originated in the African savanna around 200,000 BP (Before Present), descending from Homo erectus, had colonized Eurasia and Oceania by 40,000 BP, and finally colonized the Americas approximately 10,000 years ago.[15] They displaced Homo neanderthalensis and other species descended from Homo erectus (which had colonized Eurasia as early as 2 million years ago) through more successful reproduction and competition for resources.
And guess what, I also read constantly loads of crap on this forum. So we have something in common.
format_quote Originally Posted by guyabano
I believe us to have different renditions of what 'civilization' is, this isn't a topic of evolution so let's not go off on tangents! Also, here is a little something out of a .edu .. quoting wiki would leave me feeling inadequate .. but if it tickles your fancy, then by all means...
http://mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/
Mesopotamia, an ancient Greek term meaning "the land between rivers," is considered to be the cradle of civilization because this is where we find the origins of agriculture, written language, and cities.Chosen from the Mesopotamian collection of the Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago, this website tells the story of ancient Mesopotamia now present-day Iraq —
Indeed.. do two craps make a topic ineffective by way of a counterbalance? Or are we speaking purely from opinion?And guess what, I also read constantly loads of crap on this forum. So we have something in common.
peace!
Last edited by جوري; 07-26-2007 at 09:09 PM.
bomb 'em, destroy their country, create anarchy and then practice
cultural sensitivity.
most touching indeed. i hope they appreciate our consideration.
Peace Snake..format_quote Originally Posted by snakelegs
tell me about it-- I find it difficult sometimes invoking any sort of sympathy, understanding, or even ability to follow purpose and intent to some of these posts... what a perverse and abnormal way to deflect from the revolting actions of a country that supposedly holds itself to highest moral conduct...
Invade
kill
rape and publish the photos for voyeuristic pleasures
ravage
steal
spread false propaganda
spread sanctimonious BS a la mode of bible thumpers, and then have unmitigated effrontery to publish an article of how one poor soldier can't read his bible .. how loathsome!.. I am sure the missionaries aren't too stingy to part with one copy when they get a minute off from saving Iraqis from their false religion!
peace!
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