|
June 20, 2016
Dear Patriots,
The attack on the religious freedom for those who protect our nation has now come down to this: you can't even retire from the military with your freedom of religion and speech intact.
As our friends at First Liberty Institute have alerted us today,
retired U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Oscar Rodriguez was
invited to recite a traditional flag-folding speech at a retirement
ceremony at Travis Air Force Base for Master Sergeant Charles Roberson.
Rodriguez came at the request of Master Sergeant Roberson, who asked him
explicitly to give the traditional version of the speech -- which
acknowledges God -- instead of the more politically-correct version
recently updated by the Pentagon.
Apparently, Roberson's commanding officers thought this speech was
much too dangerous to be heard by the audience. The traditional speech
ends with these words:
It is this one nation under God that we call, with honor, the United
States of America. God Bless our flag. God bless our troops. God bless
America.
When Oscar Rodriguez began the speech that contains this
perceived-threatening speech, Roberson's commander, Colonel Raymond A.
Kozak, had several uniformed men forcibly remove Rodriguez from the room
during the ceremony as the U.S. flag was being folded. Rodriguez
continued to recite the speech as he was thrown out of the room.
Let me be very clear about what happened here. Retired Senior Master
Sergeant Rodriguez was invited by the retiree to give the speech. Upon
doing what he was invited to do, he was forcibly removed by uniformed
service members who had no authority to assault him. A retired service
member not in uniform, an invited guest, was thrown out of a private
ceremony upon the mention of the name of God.
Egregious attacks on the faith of our service members like this
cannot stand. Master Sergeant Charles Roberson's retirement ceremony
should have been about his service, his family and colleagues, and the
faith that saw him through it. Instead, by assaulting Oscar Rodriguez as
he made this recitation of a long-standing traditional speech, his
commander made a mockery of the oath that Master Sergeant Roberson took
when he began his career in the United States Air Force. That oath he
took ended with the phrase, "So help me God".
Please join me in signing the petition to Colonel Raymond A. Kozak,
who is the commander of the 349th Air Mobility Wing at Travis Air Force
Base. Let him know that shameful actions like this to stamp out the
faith of our service members will not be tolerated. No commander can
usurp the religious freedoms of a service member at his or her
discretion for any reason.
Petition to Colonel Raymond A. Kozak, commander 349th Air Mobility Wing:
The recent forcible eviction and assault of Senior Master Sergeant
Oscar Rodriguez (Ret.) from the retirement ceremony of Master Sergeant
Charles Roberson because he was reciting a speech that mentioned God is
shameful, illegal, and cannot stand.
I strongly urge you to apologize to Oscar Rodriguez for assaulting
him and infringing upon his First Amendment rights, apologize to Charles
Roberson for disrupting his ceremony and hold accountable those
responsible for this egregious action that violated the free speech
rights of a service member and his invited guest.
Our country has enough enemies. Our military should be united in
attacking the real forces that threaten our nation, not those who have
served with dignity in protecting it.
Sincerely,
Lt. Gen. (US Army-Ret.) William "Jerry" Boykin
Executive Vice President
|
No comments:
Post a Comment