US Army defines Christian ministry as 'domestic hate group'

US Army defines Christian ministry as 'domestic hate group'

By Todd Starnes

Several dozen U.S. Army active duty and reserve troops were told last week that the American Family Association, a well-respected Christian ministry, should be classified as a domestic hate group because the group advocates for traditional family values.

The briefing was held at Camp Shelby in Mississippi and listed the AFA alongside domestic hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis, the Black Panthers and the Nation of Islam.

A soldier who attended the briefing contacted me and sent me a photograph of a slide show presentation that listed AFA as a domestic hate group. Under the AFA headline is a photograph of Westboro Baptist Church preacher Fred Phelps holding a sign reading “No special law for f***.” 

American Family Association has absolutely no affiliation with the controversial church group known for picketing the funerals of American service members.

It looks like the Obama administration is separating the military from the American people. “I had to show Americans what our soldiers are now being taught,” said the soldier who asked not to be identified. “I couldn’t just let this one pass.”

The soldier said a chaplain interrupted the briefing and challenged the instructor’s assertion that AFA is a hate group. “The instructor said AFA could be considered a hate group because they don’t like gays,” the soldier told me. “The slide was talking about how AFA refers to gays as sinners and heathens and derogatory terms.” The soldier, who is an evangelical Christian, said the chaplain defended the Christian ministry.

“He kept asking the instructor, ‘Are you sure about that, son? Are you sure about that?’” he said, recalling the back and forth.

Later in the briefing, the soldiers were reportedly told that they could face punishment for participating in organizations that are considered hate groups. That considered, the soldier contacted me because he is a financial contributor to the AFA ministry.

“I donate to AFA as often as I can,” he said. “Am I going to be punished? I listen to American Family Radio all day. If they hear it on my radio, will I be faced with a Uniformed Code of Military Justice charge?”

The soldier said he was “completely taken back by this blatant attack not only on the AFA but Christians and our beliefs.”It’s not the first time the Army has accused conservative Christian groups of being domestic hate groups. Earlier this year, I exposed Army briefings that classified evangelical Christians and Catholics as examples of religious extremism. 

Another briefing told officers to pay close attention to troops who supported groups like AFA and the Family Research Council. One officer said the two Christian ministries did not “share our Army Values.” “When we see behaviors that are inconsistent with Army Values – don’t just walk by – do the right thing and address the concern before it becomes a problem,” the officer wrote in an email to his subordinates. At the time the military assured me those briefings were isolated incidents and did not reflect official Army policy.If that’s true, how do they explain what happened at Camp Shelby?

I contacted the Pentagon for an answer but they referred me to Army public affairs. And so far – they haven’t returned my calls.  I fear the answer to that question.  Because it appears the Obama administration is separating the military from the American people – and planting seeds of doubt about Christians and some of our nation’s most prominent Christian ministries.