Pentagon unblocks Baptist website to military personnel

Pentagon unblocks Baptist website to military personnel

The block came just a few weeks after an Army briefing labeled
Evangelical Christians and Catholics as examples of religious extremist
groups, and a separate email identified two prominent Christian
ministries as “domestic hate groups.”

In this case, the Pentagon said the block was a matter of
website security and not an infringement on religious liberty. “In this
case, security systems performed as expected in detecting a threat to DoD
(Department of Defense) networks,” Lt. Col. Damien Pickart said in a
prepared statement.

“We determined that our web filters recently detected malware
at the SBC website, which resulted in the block for some service
members,” Pickart said. “The department has verified that the
Southern Baptist Convention website no longer contains malware that may pose
a threat to our networks and will be unblocked today.”

Pickart added the block did not have anything to do with the
“hostile” or religious content. “The Department of Defense
strongly supports the religious rights of service members, to include their
ability to access religious websites like that of the SBC,” he said.

Immediately after releasing the AFA Action Alert, dozens of
military personnel and chaplains told AFA they could not access the Baptist
website on base computers, while a few said their military computer allowed
the site.

WHY THIS WAS IMPORTANT
Had this issue not gained national attention, the sbc.net website would still be blocked today. Because
hundreds of Baptist military personnel and chaplains depend on their
denomination’s website, it was critical that the site be unblocked quickly.

However, Congressman Randy Forbes (R-VA) recently noted during
a congressional committee meeting, there is still a level of anti-Christian
sentiment within the military, and cited several examples. You can rOnline version of this alert here your actions, the Pentagon quickly
resolved this issue and unblocked the sbc.net
website.