Air Force General Under Fire for Giving God Credit

An Air Force general who gave God the credit for his successful career in a public speech is being attacked by an anti-religion group.

At a May 7 event sponsored by the National Day of Prayer Task Force, Maj. Gen. Craig Olson said he is a "redeemed believer in Christ" and said God gave him the ability to peform specific tasks and overcome challenges.

In the 23-minute speech, Olson said God "put me in charge of failing programs worth billions of dollars. I have no ability to do that, no training to do that. God did that. He sent me to Iraq to negotiate foreign military sales deals through an Arabic interpreter. I have no ability to do that. I was not trained to do that. God did all of that."

He also said God gave him the skills to fly complex aircraft and undertake nuclear missions.

According to an article in the The Air Force Times, Olson is now under fire for those comments.

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation called Olson's statements "unforgiveable crimes and transgressions" and called on the Air Force to court-marial him. Anyone who helped him should also face military justice, the group said.

Mikey Weinstein, who heads the foundation, said Olson's speech is "a brutal disgrace to the very uniform he was wearing and the solemn oath he took to support and defend the United States Constitution."

He also criticized the National Day of Prayer as a "display of Christian supremacy and exceptionalism."

Evangelist Franklin Graham blasted Weinstein's comments in a Facebook post.

"I guess this group would've tried to court martial George Washington when he prayed at Valley Forge," he posted. "Come on -- Whose civil liberties are being infringed on here? They want to bully Christians into silence."

Olson heads the C3I and Networks division at Hanscom Air Force in Massachuseets. His speech was live-streamed by GodTV and can be seen on YouTube.