Retired U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Oscar Rodriguez Jr. was forced out of a flag-folding ceremony back in April when he mentioned God in his speech.
As humiliating as the experience was, Rodriguez says it only strengthened his faith and made him want to proclaim his love for God even more.
"To have the Air Force believe that they can go ahead and silence my voice means that they... believe they can silence everybody's voice," Rodriguez tells Life Site News.
He adds that it's ironic that the same men who assaulted him are the same ones who swore an oath to defend the Constitution. But what they did to him "is a betrayal of the Constitution, the oath, and a betrayal to the American people."
Rodriguez says he was invited to speak at the flag-folding ceremony to honour retiring Master Sgt. Charles Roberson for more than 26 years of service to our nation. "To have it destroyed over freedom of speech is unconscionable," he says.
Still, Rodriguez says the incident only "galvanised" his faith and he's "truly honoured" to have been persecuted because of his strong faith.
"I'm blessed to know that I am defending everybody, every American in the United States, and more importantly, humanity in general because these are natural rights. And natural rights are God's rights," he says.
He is now being represented by First Liberty Institute. His lawyers are asking for a formal apology from the Air Force. More than that, they are seeking to have the men who forcibly removed Rodriguez to be "held accountable."
"If the punishment is a simple letter of reprimand, or a letter of counseling, then that's what we think about our Constitutional rights," Rodriguez says. "We should have such a profound and absolute, crystal-clear message that if anybody ever tries to do that in uniform, that they have such a high degree of punishment that is equivalent to the sacrifices that have been made for those rights."
Rodriguez even admits he would like those men in prison, because "that's where they belong."
