Throughout my travels in both Afghanistan and Iraq, I've met several Muslim converts to Christianity. Back home where religion is protected and the threat of bodily harm almost unknown, those who will stand up for their beliefs are far more timid. In a country where religious freedom is denied, there are those who are willing to risk their lives for religious choice.

Back home in the United States, religion is no longer acceptable in public discourse, because religion has become a taboo topic. In a strange twist, it is more acceptable to parade sexual acts in public, like the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco, than it is to display any act of religious faith. Critics will argue for a separation between church and state, but no one has taken up the cause of a separation between filth and state. If Christians are not willing to stand up for their beliefs, others will speak in their place.

In Base Gardez, perched in the Afghan mountains between the province of Khost and the Paktia, I met a young Afghan interpreter who wore a handkerchief around his neck. There were words printed on the handkerchief and I later recognized the verses to be Psalm 91, the Warrior's Song.

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I later asked the interpreter if he knew what the verse meant. Christianity and all non-Muslim religions are forbidden in Afghanistan. It turned out that he not only understood the text, but lived by the Psalm's meaning. This young man, let's call him Zahir, had met the previous base commander, "a woman of great faith," he said enthusiastically. Zahir was baptized on that base and read his Bible daily. Of course, this is an act that subjected him to the death penalty as an Afghan citizen, yet Zahir seemed very happy with his choice.

Zahir told me he remained in country to take care of his widowed mother, but was concerned because his brothers and cousins suspected there was something wrong with him. He refused to pray, and the rumor among his family was that he had turned away from Islam. He told his mother he had converted to Christianity. The mother said she loved him as her son, but thought he should be put to death for defiling Islam.

He is my refuge and my fortress.

The image of virgin and child in a Christian home, Baghdad, Iraq.

Zahir was nervous about his fellow Afghan interpreters on the base. I talked to them as a group and asked about religion. Many of the Afghan interpreters are among the most educated the country has to offer. There were several doctors who had learned English through their studies and could speak both Pashtun and Dari – Afghanistan's two major languages. Nevertheless, the interpreters still felt those who left Islam deserved to die.

In many ways, Zahir, a new Christian, showed far more courage than most Christians back home – including myself.

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler.

I interviewed a judge advocate, JAG, officer about the various legal issues of a base as big as al Asad, Iraq. This remarkable young man spoke with conviction. He had left private practice just to join the military, because he felt a calling. On his desk was a huge study Bible. This was obviously a person of some faith, but I didn't ask him any questions about his beliefs; there was another officer in the room and I just felt that I would be "invading his privacy." I regret my cowardice, especially when I think of the many converts to Christianity who risk their lives and show great courage.

Muslims have far less concerns of angering the wrong person, nor do they shy away from speaking freely of religion.

The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

It's a strange world where Muslims like Iranian President Ahmadinejad are free to speak of religion at an institution like Columbia University, where Christianity is practically forbidden. Can anyone imagine Columbia University inviting the pope to speak? You can call Ahmadinejad all the names possible, but even his worst detractors would not say he appeared at all intimidated when speaking in front of that crowd of mostly non-Muslims.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Some things just don't add up. Critics accuse Christians of intolerance even if accepting a Savior is a willful act, but the prophet who orders death to anyone who opts out of the flock presides over a "religion of peace," mostly because the penalties for insulting Islam are well-known and no one wants to deal with the hassle of personally targeted religious decrees of death.

I've been to half a dozen Muslim nations (twice that amount if you count the majority of Western European countries where Christians are a minority). Of all the rhetoric I've heard surrounding the followers of Muhammad, I've never heard any Muslim say, "The prophet loves you." Maybe the prophet doesn't have to say it, especially when Muslims are so willing to fight for their beliefs. Too many non-Muslims may be taking their religion for granted. In the hands of Muslims, faith is a weapon, but far too many Christians are unwilling to take up arms.

I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

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Matt Sanchez, originally from California, is a New York City-based writer currently embedded with the U.S. military in Iraq. His work has appeared in the New York Post, National Review and the Weekly Standard.

A corporal in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and a student at Columbia University where he's working on degree in American Studies, Sanchez says his mission in Iraq is "to report on the stories that matter the most, first-person accounts by the men and women on the ground." His blog, Matt-Sanchez.com, chronicles his work.