Michael Collins

USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee

WASHINGTON — State Sen. Mark Green is facing more opposition over his nomination to become Army secretary.

A Muslim advocacy group announced last week it will oppose Green’s nomination because of past statements he made that the organization considers derogatory toward the Islamic faith and its followers.

“His Islamophobic, anti-Muslim comments demonstrate he is not able to lead a diverse, modern Army that includes Muslim soldiers, as well as maintain good relations with allied Muslim countries fighting the war on terrorism,” said Robert McCaw, government affairs director for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations.

A prominent civil rights coalition also raised concerns about Green’s nomination.

“There are aspects of his record that we find highly troubling,” said Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president for policy for the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “We look forward to full scrutiny of his qualifications and views by the Senate.”

Several gay rights organizations have said they would fight Green’s confirmation, calling him “a social issues warrior” who has worked to undermine LGBT rights at every turn.

One of the groups, GLAAD, released audio on Thursday from a radio program in which Green said his responsibility as a state senator was to “crush evil” – and suggested that transgender people fit that definition.

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Green’s remarks, which came during an on-air conversation last July with the hosts of the Hotwash with CJ and Alex program, concerned Green’s sponsorship of a bill that would require students to use bathrooms corresponding with the sex listed on their birth certificate.

“The government exists to honor those people who live honorably, who do good things – to reward people who behave well and to crush evil,” Green said. “So that means as a state senator, my responsibility very clearly in Romans 13 is to create an environment where people who do right are rewarded and people who do wrong are crushed. Evil is crushed.

“So I’m going to protect women in their bathrooms, and I’m going to protect our state against potential infiltration of the Syrian ISIS people through our refugee program. And whoever wants to stand up and take me on on that, I’m ready to fight.”

At this point, it’s hard to say whether the opposition poses any real threat to Green’s confirmation. But Green will almost certainly be asked to account for his past statements and positions during his confirmation hearing, which is expected later this spring.

Green did not return a phone call requesting comment.

President Donald Trump nominated Green, a former Army officer, a little more than a week ago to become Army secretary to replace Eric Fanning, the first openly gay man to lead a branch of the military.

Green’s military credentials are not in question. He’s a West Point grad who was deployed three times overseas and served as an Army medic for a special operations team that captured Saddam Hussein.

Green also is a Republican state senator from Clarksville whose conservative philosophy lines up closely with the tea party.

It’s his political views that are the source of opposition to his nomination as Army secretary. His appearance at a Chattanooga Tea Party event in September has given his opponents lots of ammunition.

At that event, Green said he would not tolerate students learning about Muslim beliefs and religious practices and claimed erroneously that Muslims don’t believe Jesus “was born from a virgin.”

In the same address, Green called transgender men and women “guys or gals with question marks,” suggested Tennessee should not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples and insinuated that permissive attitudes that legalized same-sex marriage could eventually open the door to using taxpayer dollars for infanticide.

“Mark Green is a perfect nominee for people around President Trump who want to start a culture war in the United States military and who would bring back ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ ” said Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Center, a San Francisco-based think tank that successfully worked to overturn the ban on gays and lesbians serving in the military.

“The priorities Green has made a career on in Tennessee directly contradict the core military value of treating everyone according to the same standard,” Belkin said in a statement. “They have the potential of sowing confusion and undermining good order and discipline.”

CAIR, the Muslim advocacy group, is hoping to mobilize the public against Green’s nomination through rallies, action alerts “and good old-fashioned phone calls and meetings on Capitol Hill,” McCaw said.

The group also plans to reach out to the Senate Armed Services Committee, which will conduct Green’s confirmation hearing, and to other groups, such as those that represent Muslims in the armed services, McCaw said.

“We have a diverse, modern military, and we need leaders that can guide all soldiers, not just some,” McCaw said.

Michael Collins is the Washington correspondent for the USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee. His weekly Tennessee in D.C. column highlights Volunteer State lawmakers, causes and connections. Reach him at mcollins2@gannett.com or 703-854-8927 and on Twitter at @mcollinsNEWS.