HATTIESBURG, Mississippi, October 15, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. Army labeled one of the largest and most effective pro-family Christian organizations in the country a domestic hate group because of its strong traditional family values that have no place for same-sex “marriage”.
Several dozen Army active duty and reserve troops were told during a mandatory military training session in Mississippi last week that the pro life-and-family American Family Association (AFA) is now classified as a hate group, reported Fox News’ Todd Starnes.
The AFA’s traditional family values includes outspoken opposition to same-sex marriage, pornography, and abortion. The group believes that God has “communicated absolute truth to mankind, and that all people are subject to the authority of God’s Word at all times.” Its mission is to “inform, equip, and activate individuals to strengthen the moral foundations of American culture” through Gospel values.
The training session reportedly linked the AFA to hate groups such as Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis, the Black Panthers, and the Nation of Islam.
A Christian soldier attending the training session snapped a photo of a slide show that labeled the Christian group.
“I had to show Americans what our soldiers are now being taught,” said the soldier to Fox News, who asked not to be identified. “I couldn’t just let this one pass.”
“I was completely taken back by this blatant attack not only on the AFA but Christians & our beliefs.”
The Army has not yet issued a statement on the content of the training session.
Bryan Fischer, who hosts a talk show on AFA’s American Family Radio, said that if “our military wasn’t headed by a commander-in-chief who is hostile to Christian faith, these allegations would be laughed off every military base in the world,” he told Fox News.
The U.S. Army is not the first to label the AFA as a hate group for upholding a biblical view of marriage. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which enjoys a close relationship with the Obama administration's Department of Justice, has built an elaborate fundraising empire by branding mainstream Christian ministries, including the AFA, as “hate groups” for opposing homosexuality.
Gay terrorist Floyd Lee Corkins II admitted in April that the SPLC’s labeling the Christian group Family Research Council as a “hate” group led directly to him targeting the pro-family organization for his August 2012 shooting rampage.
Fischer called the Army’s labeling the AFA a hate group “libelous, slanderous and blatantly false.”
“This mischaracterization of AFA is reprehensible and inexcusable. We have many military members who are a part of the AFA network who know these accusations are a tissue of lies,” he said.
An update on the situation today from Fox News is that the Pentagon is claiming the information used in the presentation calling AFA a hate group “was not acquired from official sources and does not reflect Army doctrine.” However, Tim Wildmon, President of AFA, says that the organization will still pursue a lawsuit against the military.
Wildmon told Fox News that “he doesn’t believe the Army’s excuse” because they are hearing from too many people across the US who have had the same experience in military training sessions in both the Army and the Air Force.