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Should soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan proselytize?Blogging and me share a love/hate relationship. One the onehand, I hate writing articles because often it takes me hours of mentalsparring to get to exactly what I want to say. On the other hand, I lovethe feeling of accomplishment after having written. Yes, I know it’sweird, but this is why I only post about once or twice a month. Mymental sanity can’t take much more.Over the past few days, however, I’ve felt a compulsive urge togo to my computer and start typing. Call it a blogging binge if you will.My only justification for this latest binge is the hope that at least a fewpeople will read what I have to say and put themselves through thesame agonizing soul searching as I’ve had to do over these past fewdays. So if you’re ready forsome no holds barred gut grabbling heartstopping soul searching, please read on. If not, I’ll understand.It all started a few weeks ago when I read a post by BrianMcLaren on the Sojourners blog stating that according to a recent Pewsurvey, white evangelical Christians are the one group in America the
most likely 
to support torture. This really bothered me. The reason itbothered me—and I’m still unable to let it go even as I write—is notbecause I don’t understand the moral complexitiesinvolved inprotecting our country. What bothers me is that if the survey iscorrect, then that means there’s something in evangelicalism—morespecifically
white
evangelicalism—that causes people who look like meand think like me to be
more
prone to violence than others
even after 
all other moral factors are considered. Troubling!It doesn’t stop here. It’s come to my attention that Christiansoldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been actively distributing Biblesand attempting to convert Afghanis and Iraqis to Christianity—and nowAl Jazeera is blasting footage throughout the Muslim world of Lieutenant Colonel Gary Hensley, the
chief 
military chaplain inAfghanistan, counseling his followers in how to “hunt souls for Jesus”by distributing the New Testament to Afghani civilians as “gifts.”One might ask why I as a Bible believing Christian—and a
missionary 
at that—would be so vehemently opposed to this? I canunderstand why some might think that I’ve had a sudden memory lossand forgotten that Jesus told His followers to “Go into all the world andpreach the gospel to every creature.” Why in the world would I opposesoldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan distributing Bibles to the localpopulation?
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