Kerby Anderson

A few months ago, the leadership at Ft. Riley invited Lt. General Jerry Boykin to speak at their D-Day anniversary event. Earlier this month they decided to cancel the prayer breakfast dues to “scheduling conflicts.” One official made it clear that General Boykin would not be invited back as a speaker.

If you are not familiar with General Boykin, all your really need to know is that he was a founding member of the Delta Force and a 36-year veteran who now serves as the Executive Vice President of the Family Research Council. I am sure the soldiers at the Big Red One would love to hear his testimony and message, but that will never happen.

Mikey Weinstein is the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and follows Christian speakers like General Boykin around in order to demand that the military leadership in various venues cancel any Christian event like this. Fort Riley denies that this complaint was the reason for cancelling the event saying that it was merely a “coincidence of unfortunate timing.” Maybe, but the facts seem to contradict that explanation.

General Boykin has been on my radio program and says that this is “just another reminder of the incredible discrimination against Christians in our armed forces.” In the past, I have talked about how it is becoming more difficult for chaplains and anyone of Christian faith to function within the U.S. military.

This is not the first time that military leaders seem frightened by anti-Christian activists and thus deny Christian soldiers an opportunity to hear from one of the Army’s most decorated heroes. If these leaders balk at a threat from one individual how can we expect them to respond to the real threats from around the world?

General Boykin understands the pressure that was put on Fort Riley. He says they are “caught between radical secularists and the Commander in Chief who seeks to impose a politically correct culture on the military.” In other words, some of the problems in the military go all the way to the top.