Meanwhile...

The juggernaut of Christian conversion groups roars forward in the most unlikely of places - among the Pastun speaking tribals of Afghanistan. This time, it is evangelicals in the US militarywho are claiming that they 'hunt people for Jesus'... New forms of proselytizing include distributing free bibles printed in the country's main Pashto and Dari languages.

In one recorded sermon, Lieutenant-Colonel Gary Hensley, the chief of the US military chaplains in Afghanistan, is seen telling soldiers that as followers of Jesus Christ, they all have a responsibility "to be witnesses for him". "The special forces guys - they hunt men basically. We do the same things as Christians, we hunt people for Jesus, we hunt them down, get the hound of heaven after them, so we get them into the kingdom. That's what we do, that's our business." The footage, shot about a year ago by Brian Hughes, a documentary maker and former member of the US military who spent several days in Bagram, was obtained by Al Jazeera's James Bays, who has covered Afghanistan extensively.

Nashville Association, Colored Men's Branch, 26 black soldiers publicly accepted Christ as Savior during Personal Purity Talks at the Nashville Young Men's Christian Association in 1917. Image from the NYPL image gallery.