William Boykin’s ardent Christian beliefs finally caught up with him.
Forty years ago, they nearly got him disqualified from joining the U.S. Army’s elite Delta Force. Nine years ago, when he had attained his present rank of lieutenant general, they nearly got him fired from his job in the Bush administration.
And, recently, the evangelical Christian, now a college instructor and ordained minister, was forced to withdraw from giving a talk on spirituality to the cadets at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.
In demanding West Point replace him as speaker at the annual Prayer Breakfast, his critics claimed he had in the past argued that the Constitution’s First Amendment protection for religion should not apply to Muslims and cast the U.S. war on terrorism as a holy war between Christianity and Islam.
Shortly before Boykin’s scheduled Dec. 8 talk, West Point announced the general had withdrawn.
Did he jump, or was he pushed?
“Let’s say it was by mutual agreement. I love the Army, and I love the people at West Point,” said Boykin, who did not attend the academy. “I would certainly have been pleased if West Point had taken a position against a group that has been connected to terrorist financing.”
VoteVets.org, a political action committee described by The New York Times as a “liberal veteran’s group” and one with several retired generals on its advisory board (including Wesley Clark, who ran for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination), led the charge against Boykin, claiming that to allow him to speak to cadets “would be a slap to the face to Muslim Americans who have served their country, not to mention those who gave the fullest sacrifice for their nation and their comrades.”
Another group opposed to Boykin’s talk was the Forum for the Military Chaplaincy, also described by The Times as “liberal.”
Sharia vs. the Constitution
Boykin said that he had not called for all Muslims to be denied the protection of the First Amendment, but “only those Muslims who want to replace the American Constitution, freedom of religion, freedom of speech with sharia (Islamic law). Muslims who are happy to live in peace under the American Constitution should be protected.”
However, another group that protested Boykin’s invitation, the Council on Islamic American Relations (CAIR), provided a YouTube link to a clip showing Boykin making the kind of blanket recommendation cited by his critics: “We must recognize that Islam is not just a religion. It is a totalitarian way of life. It’s a legal system, sharia law; it’s a financial system; it’s a moral code; it’s a political system. It should not be protected under the First Amendment, particularly given that those following the dictates of the Quran are obligated to destroy the Constitution and replace it with sharia law.”
CAIR’s national communications director, Ibrahim Hooper, said that while “it is good he is not addressing one of our nation’s premier military academies,” CAIR would have preferred it if West Point or the U.S. military had withdrawn the invitation, thereby making a clear rejection of Boykin’s anti-Islamic comments.
“How he got invited in the first place is a big question. Comments like his about Islam would not have been acceptable at West Point if they had been made about any other religion,” Hooper said.
Boykin got support from Arthur Schulcz, spokesman for the International Conference of Evangelical Chaplain Endorsers, which qualifies evangelicals seeking chaplaincies in the U.S. armed forces.
“It is a sad day when the young people being trained to defend our Constitution get to see West Point not stand up for freedom of speech and religious liberty because these things are in conflict with political correctness, and I say that as a West Point graduate,” said Schulcz. He added that, for military chaplains, too, there was increasing pressure to tow the administration’s line.
In early February, for example, Catholic chaplains were prohibited by the Army from reading from the pulpit a pastoral letter condemning the federal health-insurance plan for funding contraception and abortion-inducing drugs. They were allowed to mention it in announcements, however, and distribute it in printed form.
Also defending Boykin was Robert Spencer, a Catholic layman who operates JihadWatch.org, a blogsite that monitors Islamic persecutions of other religions worldwide. “What happened at West Point is outrageous,” said Spencer. “There should not be a problem with a man who takes a stand against organizations that deny the validity of the U.S. Constitution.”
Spencer, like Boykin, says CAIR is a front for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, both of which are intent, they claim, on destroying America “from within.”
CAIR’s Hooper denies the charge: “We have no connection with any other organization. Claims that we do are just typical Islamophobia.”
Boykin and Spencer both note that CAIR was an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the 2008 Hamas funding investigation, which saw the Holy Land Foundation shut down and its leaders jailed for funneling donations to Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization.
Nearly Rejected
Boykin is a much-decorated former officer in Delta Force (U.S. Army’s elite squad). An Army psychologist reportedly wanted to reject him because he was too religious. Boykin said he had been raised in a Christian home but had lost his faith by the time he was commissioned in the Army, then he grew sick of the immoral life he was leading and returned to his Christian roots.
As a member of Delta Force, he participated in such actions as Grenada, the attempt to rescue U.S. embassy hostages in Iran, Somalia and, according to The New York Times, may also have been involved in assassination missions against Latin American drug lords.
In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attack, while serving as deputy under secretary of defense for intelligence, he made public comments suggesting Christianity and Islam were in a holy war. He has denied this interpretation.
Now Boykin teaches leadership at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, heads a three- person humanitarian mission (himself, his wife and a secretary) called “Christian Warriors,” and makes frequent public appearances warning of the threat posed by extremist Muslims.
Boykin says there would have been nothing in his talk at West Point about Islam. “I would have talked about the importance of my faith in my 35-plus years in the Army.”
Boykin said that he had known many effective leaders in the Army “with no faith at all.” But he had found great value in prayer — “for wisdom, for guidance, for protection. When I prayed for it, I received it.”
Register correspondent Steve Weatherbe writes from Victoria, British Columbia.
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Why do Catholic publications continue to say, “Catholic chaplains were prohibited by the Army from reading from the pulpit a pastoral letter condemning the federal health-insurance plan for funding contraception and abortion-inducing drugs”?
Do you know who the Army Chief of Chaplains is?
He is Chaplain (Major General) Donald Rutherford. He is a Catholic priest. He is the senior Catholic chaplain in the military. He is endorsed by Archbishop Broglio. This is not a dispute between “the Army” and “The Catholic Church”—it’s a difference of opinion between the archbishop and his senior chaplain, who thought it better not to have Catholic chaplains read the letter themselves, but to refer to it and then hand it out. The letter was still going to be given to everyone. But for some reason CH Rutherford thought this a better way to do it. Why is it none of the Catholic media have bothered to ask Rutherford why? Or to ask Broglio why he didn’t just call up his chaplain and discuss the matter?
So let’s see—when the administration passes legislation that does not allow us as Roman Catholics to exercise our Constitutional rights from the healthcare mandate through to religious displays we are being persecuted, yet when someone states that a follower of Islam should be denied said same rights, it is okay. And to further it, people are now crying that the general is being denied his rights to speak because he’s a Christian.
Pot meet kettle.
Hagee is a evangelical, the group protesting outside homosexual funerals are evangelical, the guy who burnt the Koran was an evangelical. Fact is there are quit a few whack jobs that are evangelical. This guy may very well be one of them. For all I know it was probably a good idea to stop this guy. Nothing in your article gives me any cause for concern that because some sort of evangelical was stopped from doing something Christians are being silenced.
BC
Try again by getting your facts straight. It was not the Chief of Chaplains who prohibited priests for discussing and informing the faithful that Obama’s mandated funding of contraception and abortion it was the Secretary of the Army.
Defender
If you can’t see that this regime running this country and its allies in the media, entertainment industry, Big Business, community activists and the whole Democratic Party are not anti-Christian and in particular anti-Catholic then you need to catch up on what is going in this country and the world. You also need to learn a lot more about Islam and its designs and motives.
I pray both of you will see the error in your thoughts and statements.
I am curious as to why Catholics are concerned about the well being of Evangelicals? As a member of several interfaith groups, who have experienced first hand how the Evangelical community sees Catholics on the same playing field as Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists (ie as Infidels)... why do the Catholics seem to want to claim mutual “Christian” concerns with people who believe they as Catholics are in league with the Devil (and Muslims, etc)?
I’ve not only seen it in interfaith groups, but also in the resulting aftermath of hurricane Katrina, when non-Catholic christian groups refused to consider assisting Catholics until “their own” were taken care of; though the funds they were using were federal funds.
I just don’t get it! Catholics saw and continue to see lashings by the Radical Right of the “Christian Right”, yet they seem to think they are seen as “Fellow Christians”. Sorry boys and girls, you are no more Christian in the Eyes of the Evangelical community then I am as an American Muslim.
As a Catholic and American I am appalled at this article.
Firstly, the 1st amendment allows you to say what you want, but it does not protect you from the ramifications of your actions, nor does it mean that someone is OBLIGED to let you speak on a matter if they do not think you would represent a given organization in the way they wish to be portrayed. This is true even within the Army, and the assumed “First Amendment violations” this article alludes to are bogus.
Secondly, our wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East at large are not “Holy Wars”- They are political maneuverings of a secular state.
Thirdly, I agree with some of the previous sentiments and ask why are we Catholics publicly aligning ourselves with Evangelicals who tend to ( on the whole) be much more radicalized than the general populace (and majority of Catholics)? It’s not doing us any PR favors and is hindering our ability to search for and preach the Truth in effective ways.
You dance with the devil..he will kiss you. Get informed about Islam and stop argue with picket line slogans. Compare the countries build on Christian values and the countries build on Islam values; where do you like to live? Take your pick, go there and shut up, it’s your choice.
At least Evangelicals like Orthodox Jews are consistent and zealous with their beliefs.
Why wouldn’t the West Point people ask to see a draft of Gen’l Boykin’s proposed speech, and then decide on whether to permit him to give his talk. I believe their action does violate our first amendment right to freedom of speech…moreover, Catholics accept each life, no matter their religious persuasion, as having dignity, because our inalienable right to life comes from God, not from any sect, government, religion, or group…!!!
Our corrupt, haughty and queer military mocks its creator… does anyone doubt that it’s only a matter of time before it is humbled?
Thank God for someone at such a once high level in our military forces willing to sound the alarm against Islam. The First Amendment was not intended to support or allow an antithetical challenge to the Christian principles our founders professed. America honors The God of Abraham – not an upstart that denies the divinity of Christ and teaches to kill everyone but Muslims. Wake up Americans. Islam is your worst enemy. They eschew loyalty to our nation.
@Bob Rowland
Hey - after we get those filthy Moslems, then lets get the Jews cause they also deny the divinity of Christ. Nice.
Is not the hatred with you typed as equally inflammatory as those Moslems who cry out for the murder of ‘crusaders. BTW—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam ALL worship the God of Abraham. Don’t be alarmed if you are every in a Roman Catholic church where the Mass said in the vernacular is is Arabic and the priest uses the name Allah to refer to God
ANISAH: 1st. it is because we are Catholics and what did Jesus tell the Apostles when they complained about others using the name of Jesus in Mark 9:38-41? Yes, it is sad that they are outside, looking in, but, they are still our brothers and sisters and 2nd. this is about freedom of speech, even though he is in the military with limited freedoms. I wonder how this General feels being led by a non-American President? +JMJ+
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