U.S. Army burns Bibles in Afghanistan

It has been revealed that in an attempt to avoid offending Afghan muslims, the U.S. military has ordered the burning of Bibles sent to a soldier to distribute by his home church. Distribution of Bibles by uniformed soldiers is against the rules of the military, something the donating church had been unaware of.

"The decision was made that it was a 'force protection' measure to throw them away, because, if they did get out, it could be perceived by Afghans that the U.S. government or the U.S. military was trying to convert Muslims," Wright said.

The military said a soldier at Bagram received the Bibles and didn't realize he wasn't allowed to hand them out. The Al Jazeera network has shown footage of the Bibles at a prayer service where an unnamed soldier says members of his church raised money for them.

The chaplain later "corrected" the soldier and confiscated the Bibles, Wright said.

Clearly, this soldier broke the rules. The question is why the Bibles were burned instead of being returned to the donating church for use elsewhere in America. This is clearly a hard case where wisdom is needed.