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Zebra
Skeptic Friend
USA
354 Posts |
 Posted - 05/30/2008 : 20:24:08
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Quick quiz: Which of the following best demonstrates prudent diplomacy, or at least "Christian behavior", by an American soldier in Iraq?
A. Handing out coins in Fallujah stamped, in Arabic, with "Where will you spend eternity?" on one side, and John 3:16 on the other side.
B. Using the Quran for target practice.
(Disclaimer: I don't know that either of these guys in fact claims to be a Christian, though it seems like a pretty reasonable guess that "A" does. And, one imagines, he probably had some cockamamie idea that he was doing Just What Jesus Wanted.)
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I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone* -Dick Cheney
*some restrictions may apply |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2008 : 02:33:59 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Zebra
Quick quiz: Which of the following best demonstrates prudent diplomacy, or at least "Christian behavior", by an American soldier in Iraq?
A. Handing out coins in Fallujah stamped, in Arabic, with "Where will you spend eternity?" on one side, and John 3:16 on the other side.
B. Using the Quran for target practice.
(Disclaimer: I don't know that either of these guys in fact claims to be a Christian, though it seems like a pretty reasonable guess that "A" does. And, one imagines, he probably had some cockamamie idea that he was doing Just What Jesus Wanted.)
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Both did exactly what the more radical, Christian preachers approve of, and many if not most of the less radical preachers also approve of but only in the darkness of their prayer closets. Both are pretty much in tune with OT philosophy, and Jesus was a sniveling, little wuss for preaching all that love crap. He didn't actually become "Big J" until he was crucified, thereby sating a proto-Christian fascination with the pain of others.
Say, I wonder what became of the evangelical project that Franklin Graham was cooking up at the beginning of this stupidity. As I recall, he was going to pass out food and Bibles to Iraqi refugees, but after it all got started, he's said nothing about it. Did he finally figure out that Muslims don't want any Bibles and can be just as vile about it as any Christian?
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2008 : 06:13:55 [Permalink]
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| Originally posted by ZebraA. Handing out coins in Fallujah stamped, in Arabic, with "Where will you spend eternity?" on one side, and John 3:16 on the other side. |
What cracks me up about this one is how utterly futile it is. It's one thing to convert a dull-witted superstitious agnostic who's put all of 20 seconds into thinking about gods and an afterlife. With those, you'll get a couple of converts.
But it's much, much, harder to convert a bunch of people who more fervently believe in their fucked up religion than you believe in yours. I mean, and good Muslim can obviously answer the question about eternity just fine.
And last time I checked, the Bible didn't mention "a place of physical and spiritual pleasure, with lofty mansions, delicious food and drink, and virgin companions called houris." Kinda beats the heck out this description: "believers enjoy the presence of God and other believers and freedom from suffering and sin."
Idiots. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13476 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2008 : 09:32:01 [Permalink]
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Ah well. A religious nut-job in the military. Who'd a thunk it?
The good news is that military regulations prohibit religious proselytizing. (I wonder if that rule extends to troops proselytizing to other troops or does it only apply to doing it to foreign nationals? I know things like advancement and such things can't take religion into account. But I bet there are plenty of thumpers hitting their fellows in arms over the head with the bible.) Anyhow, the guy is in trouble... |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2008 : 11:52:53 [Permalink]
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Yeah; not only did he abuse his power; but he was bound to realize that his action will be gold for the propagandists among the insurgency.
They already describe the occupation as a crusade against Islam; and the soldiers in Iraq has been briefed and formed on the subject.
Ultimately, he deliberately took the risk to encourage terrorism and hence to put civilians and fellow soldier's life in danger for the sake of his religion. |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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Onward, Christian soldiers
