Separation of Church and State

by Sarah Richardson

Bibles are burned in response to a breach in the military rules of the war in Afghanistan. Military officials say that it was a difficult decision but that is was necessary for security reasons. Some Christians expressed their concern that there was too much consideration for not offending Muslims that they have committed a great offense to Christians. One official highlighted the presumable up rise from the Muslim community if they were to "take a bunch of Koran and burn them."

However, I think that the situation is being taken out of context. It was clearly stated that religion was not to be proliferated in the agenda in Afghanistan and the bibles were written in the two most popular languages in the country, not in English. They were sent by a church, not carried by the troops themselves. There is good reason to believe that they were going to be used in a way that would breech the contract and cause issues. Not to say that America is privy to keeping its word in wartime.

I guess the question at hand though is was it necessary to burn them? Now this, I think is different. Why they couldn't be returned or confiscated and retained until a later date I don't know. It does seem to be an extremely disrespectful thing to do.