US military Chaplains serve all.  They serve regardless of faith or lack thereof.  They provide counsel and reassurance independent of affiliation.  While staying true to their own religious tenets, they aggressively support all personnel with whatever they require to meet their spiritual and religious needs.

That’s why it is not surprising that a US military Chaplain recently handed out religious texts to local Iraqis.  They were Arabic and English Korans, the “Bible” of Islam (and its not the first time the US military has provided locals with Islamic religious texts).  By showing respect for the Iraqis and demonstrating the importance of faith to the American military, the Chaplain made a significant contribution to the goodwill between US and Iraqis in the area.  That goodwill will go a long way in securing a mutual peace that will help stabilize Iraq and allow American forces to come home.

The response of the Iraqis, too, was not unexpected.  They displayed no offense that they were given a Koran by an American soldier wearing a Christian cross.  In fact, one Iraqi read from the text a Surah “extolling” Christians in response. They gave no indication of offense at receiving a Koran with an English translation, even though to Muslims the Koran can only be in Arabic (if it is not, it is not the Koran).

Contrary to common stereotype, Muslims in the Middle East do not inherently bear hostility toward Christianity.  In fact, the opposite is often true.  In populations dominated by Islam, some have never even met a Christian, but the importance of religion in their culture makes them naturally curious about the Christian faith so often ascribed to Western nations.

The Chaplain wasn’t trying to convert the Iraqis, even though he couldn’t be certain if they were necessarily Muslim or had a practicing faith.  But the cultural importance of faith, and the respect with which the Chaplain approached them, made the experience positive for all concerned.

Had the conversation progressed along religious lines, perhaps on the topic of the Abrahamic similarities of both Islam and Christianity, it is not unfathomable that the Iraqis would have received a Christian Bible the same way, if he made it available along with the Koran.  The irony, of course, is that given current political sensitivities, it is unlikely he would have had any Arabic Bibles to give, even if the Iraqis had asked for them.

While no one will complain about giving Korans to Iraqis, the distribution of Bibles would have been widely derided; any public knowledge of Arabic Bibles, after all, would bring about cries of proselytism.  The result is that Arabic Korans are available to Iraqis, but Arabic Bibles likely aren’t…even if they are Iraqi Christians.