Their chief concern is in taking an approach that will neither offend Afghanis nor violate a general army order that forbids proselytizing. (There's even a discussion about what it means to proselytize.) The group is mostly white and mostly male. Altogether, they seem like highly unlikely candidates to evangelize a Muslim population.
The greater question is, though, what exactly do they think they are doing? How in the world does any of this square with the American mission in Afghanistan? Isn't there a danger that their activities undermine the mission? And why are U. S. taxpayers supporting such a bald violation of the line between church and state?
Christopher Hitchens watched the video shortly before he visited a beleaguered cadre of free thinkers at the Air Force Academy, which he writes about here. Hitchens also helpfully supplies this quote from Lieutenant Colonel Gary Hensley, chief of the United States military chaplains in Afghanistan:
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 in the kingdom. Right? That’s what we do, that’s our business.
Which raises yet another matter: If Colonel Hensley is chief of all chaplains in Afghanistan, that presumably includes Catholic, Jewish, LDS, and Muslim chaplains, not to mention mainstream Protestants. If so, why is he taking sides? Isn't his real business to help them do their jobs? Just asking, is all...
(Thanks to Foxessa at Fox Home for calling my attention to Hitchens' article.)
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