{"id":324,"date":"2009-05-07T20:10:47","date_gmt":"2009-05-08T00:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=324"},"modified":"2015-06-27T19:16:50","modified_gmt":"2015-06-27T22:16:50","slug":"al-jazeera-redux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2009\/05\/07\/al-jazeera-redux\/","title":{"rendered":"US Military Chaplains & al Jazeera, Redux"},"content":{"rendered":"

The internet is awash with people calling for court-martial and other repercussions for the soldiers shown on al Jazeera (as discussed previously<\/a>).\u00a0 Some have even said their actions are evidence of a larger conspiracy, and that they have endangered their fellow troops.<\/p>\n

Problem is, they’re talking about fictional events.<\/p>\n

Based on all the information that is now available, here’s a really, really simplified and slightly dramatized version for those that can’t comprehend what happened (names changed):<\/p>\n

Sgt Smith is being filmed talking to a Chaplain.\u00a0 He says, “On my missions, I’m going to hand out Bibles.”\u00a0 The Chaplain says, “You need to be careful about that.”\u00a0 End of video.<\/p>\n

The next day (and off camera), the Chaplain finds Sgt Smith and says, “I talked to Maj Doe and Chaplain John, and we’ve agreed that it would be inappropriate for you to do that.\u00a0 In fact, give me the Bibles you were going to hand out.”\u00a0 Sgt Smith does, the Chaplain discusses the propriety of the behavior, and the leadership is satisfied.\u00a0 The military considers the case closed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But that’s not where it ends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A year later, the\u00a0videographer gives the film–which only contains the initial statement–to al Jazeera.\u00a0 Soon, the world sees Sgt Smith talk about handing out Bibles and accusations arise that the Chaplain is encouraging troops to begin a crusade.<\/p>\n

With only the video to suggest what occurred, advocacy organizations start talking about how this is damaging America’s reputation in the Muslim world, being used as a recruiting tool for al Qaeda, and endangering our troops.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State called<\/a> the video proof of “the military’s proselytizing plan.”\u00a0\u00a0The Military Religious Freedom Foundation\u00a0called<\/a> it\u00a0proof that “evangelical Christians…are putting their fellow soldiers at extreme risk<\/em> by attempting to convert Afghans to Christianity.”\u00a0 To the contrary, while the video may suggest<\/em> many things, it proves<\/em> nothing.<\/p>\n

These\u00a0activist organizations have extrapolated from the video;\u00a0the problem with extrapolation is that in the absence of facts, all they’ve done\u00a0is create fiction.\u00a0 There is no evidence of an institutional “proselytizing plan;” in fact, the institution\u00a0prevented<\/em> “proselytizing.”\u00a0 Likewise, no soldiers attempted to convert Iraqis in re: this video because the military chain of command interceded, as it is intended to do.\u00a0 Is it possible the military is lying and covering up a scandal, or that the Sergeant did things on his own anyway?\u00a0 While unlikely, it may be possible,\u00a0but evidence should be produced to support that assertion.\u00a0 Instead, unfounded speculation is not only being presented as fact, but is also being applied to the US military as a whole.<\/p>\n

The AU and the MRFF have packaged fiction as fact in an inflammatory manner.\u00a0 They have accused soldiers of endangering their comrades.\u00a0 The video\u00a0misrepresents actual events, and\u00a0the AU and MRFF’s\u00a0highly publicized\u00a0accusations\u00a0are not supported by evidence.\u00a0 Regardless of statements by military personnel to the contrary, they have continued to say that\u00a0this video shows Christians in the US military on a crusade against Islam.\u00a0 That assertion is demonstrably false, and it is irresponsible and dishonest to repeat it as fact.<\/p>\n

The videographer has defended the context of the “hunting” sermon (the second portion of the al Jazeera segment) by saying he filmed the entire thing.\u00a0 That’s not the “context” that’s relevant.\u00a0 The missing context is the scenario<\/em>: First, the sermon was completely unrelated to the initial al Jazeera segment on the local language Bibles.\u00a0 Presenting the two together insinuated a connection that did not exist.\u00a0 Second, the Chaplain was speaking religious beliefs as\u00a0a religious person in a religious service to willing religious adherents.\u00a0 He is explicitly allowed to do that very thing, just as any Jewish, Catholic, or Islamic Chaplain is (and even Wiccan or atheist leader); it is legal and even encouraged.<\/p>\n

The soldiers\u00a0were exercising their Constitutional right to free exercise, as affirmed by the Supreme Court.\u00a0 In the available\u00a0video, the preaching Chaplain never\u00a0said anything that was prejudicial to command guidance (including General Order number one).<\/p>\n

The “liberties” taken in the creation\u00a0of the video are evidenced by a cut to a holstered pistol in between two shots of the Chaplain, which appears to imply that the Chaplain was carrying a sidearm.\u00a0 This implication is false, as the Chaplain’s belt can be seen during the clip and he’s not carrying a weapon.\u00a0 Still, the creative editing has\u00a0caused some people to believe that mistaken\u00a0and misleading representation.<\/p>\n

The AU and MRFF are right that this video may very well damage the reputation of America abroad, act as a recruiting tool for al Qaeda, or endanger our troops.\u00a0 But the video is a carefully edited piece that misrepresents the true nature of the US military.\u00a0 If the AU and MRFF had defended the military’s appropriate<\/em> actions, rather than vilifying the military with false accusations,\u00a0perhaps they could have mitigated those risks…rather than contributed to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The internet is awash with people calling for court-martial and other repercussions for the soldiers shown on al Jazeera (as discussed previously).\u00a0 Some have even said their actions are evidence of a larger conspiracy, and that they have endangered their fellow troops. Problem is, they’re talking about fictional events<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[58,64,1424,2,5218,7,10],"class_list":["post-324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chaplain","tag-afghanistan","tag-al-jazeera","tag-conspiracy","tag-military","tag-military-religious-freedom-foundation","tag-mrff","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}