A colonel who wrote encouraging words about trusting in Jesus in times of stress has had his column pulled from an Air National Guard newsletter.
Colonel Florencio Marquinez, the medical group commander of the 180th Fighter Wing, wrote the column titled "A Spiritual Journey as a Commander" for the September edition of the online "Stinger" newsletter.
At one point in the column, Col. Marquinez tells people to hand their burdens over to the Lord, saying "With God all things are possible."
"So no matter how stressful your life can be juggling family issues, relationships, career advancement, work, school, or any burden that life throws your way, cast it upon the Lord and He will sustain you," he wrote.
But a complaint was filed against the column claiming its content was offensive, and the Ohio National Guard made the decision to withdraw it.
According to Fox News, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation's Mikey Weinstein contacted Air Force officials asking for the removal of "that odious and offending proselytising commentary".
The news network also reports that after it was removed, an email was sent across the Ohio base with an updated link to the Stinger and a note stating that the article had been removed by the 180th FW Public Affairs office "due to sensitivities".
The decision to withdraw it was strongly criticised by the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, which said in a letter that the First Amendment ought to protect the rights of airmen and commanders to exercise free speech and religion.
"The Ohio National Guard is not free to censor the protected speech of one of its members based on the content of that speech. Nor can it intentionally burden a member's exercise of religion, which the Supreme Court has defined to include 'belief and profession,' as well as actions such as 'proselytising'," the letter read.
But Ohio National Guard spokesman James Sims stands by the decision to censor the column, saying it violated regulations.
He told Fox News: "It's very clear what you can and cannot say in an Air Force publication. Once it was brought to our attention and we compared it with the regulation, we found it was in violation of the regulation."
