Military official says malware to blame for SBC website block

A military official says malware was to blame for the Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) website being blocked on some military bases.

Lt. Col. Damien Pickart, a Defense Department spokesman, said the military’s software filters detected malware at SBC.net and blocked the website. Malware is software intended to damage or disable a computer, often present because of hackers. The malware since has been removed off the website, and the denomination’s website unblocked, he said.

“The Department of Defense is not intentionally blocking access to this site,” Pickart told The Tennessean in an email. “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.”

Social media sites were buzzing April 25 over allegations that the military had blocked the website for other reasons. FoxNews first reported that Southern Baptist-endorsed chaplains on military installations had tried to access
SBC.net and had received a message: “The site you have requested has been blocked by Team CONUS (C-TNOSC/RCERT-CONUS) due to hostile content.”

The Associated Press wrote a story summarizing what had happened, and it was carried on websites around the world. Some Christians focused on the phrase “hostile content” and wondered if the denomination’s traditional positions on abortion, gay “marriage” and the Bible were the reason the military was blocking the site.

Before the malware discovery, SBC leaders had stated that to assume the military had “targeted” the site was “premature” concern. 

(BP)