Coalition asks Air Force: Why are Christian service members still being punished?

A pro-family activist and conservative talk show host says U.S. Air Force officials failed to respond to concerns about the continued mistreatment of Christians in the armed forces.

Last week, members of the Restore Military Religious Freedom Coalition met with senior Air Force officials to discuss several cases of religious discrimination against Air Force service members.

Sandy Rios says while the meeting was cordial, the officials failed to answer a key question: why are Christians’ religious beliefs still unprotected in the armed forces even after legislation was passed to do so?

Rios relayed the question posed to the Air Force: “Why is it that in the 2013 Defense Authorization Bill, there was definite language protecting Christian soldiers from the types of things we’re bringing to your attention? Why has this not been implemented in the Air Force or the Department of Defense? And they had no answer for that.”

Rios says that lack of response was a red flag as to the true intentions of the Department of Defense.

Rios represented the American Family Association, a member of the coalition, at the September 12 meeting at the Pentagon.

She says the AFA is alarmed at the undue influence atheist Mikey Weinstein has on Air Force policy, as well as the inaccurate information the Pentagon relies on from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

OneNewsNow has previously reported on Weinstein, a former service member who says he formed his anti-religous group to battle the “far-right, militant, radical, evangelical, religious fundamentalists.”

Rios reports the Southern Poverty Law Center is “labeling the American Family Association (and) the Family Research Council as ‘hate groups,’ likening us to al-Qaida, the Taliban. It’s shocking,” she says. “And so when the military comes out with writings where they refer to the findings of the SPLC is very alarming.”

Rios says there is no question that the common threat is clearly the Obama administration. “Of course they could not say that,” she says of the Air Force officers. “But I think we could only assume that we’re seeing a pattern of administration influence in a bad way in all federal agencies.”

The coalition handed Air Force officials copies of its “Clear and Present Danger” report documenting religious liberty violations of service members.

– See more at: http://www.onenewsnow.com/national-security/2013/09/17/coalition-asks-air-force-why-are-christian-service-members-being-targeted-for-beliefs#.Ujmpbz_pK68