Boykin didn’t return a call seeking comment or respond to an email sent to his account at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia where he is a visiting professor.

A retired U.S. lieutenant general who made comments denigrating Islam withdrew Monday from speaking at a West Point prayer breakfast after a veterans’ advocacy group asked the Army chief of staff to rescind the invitation.

VoteVets.org told Gen. Raymond Odierno in a letter that allowing retired Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin to speak at the U.S. Military Academy next week would be contrary to Army values and disrespectful to Muslim cadets.

Late Monday afternoon, West Point issued a brief statement saying Boykin had decided to withdraw speaking at the Feb. 8 event and that another speaker would be lined up in his place.

Boykin, a former senior military intelligence officer, had been criticized for speeches he made at evangelical Christian churches beginning in January 2002. He said that America’s enemy was Satan, that God had put President George W. Bush in the White House and that one Muslim Somali warlord was an idol-worshipper.

Boykin later issued a written statement apologizing and said he didn’t mean to insult Islam. But VoteVets.org said Monday that Boykin has continued to make denigrating comments about Islam since his 2007 retirement.

[Editor’s note: The above article is incomplete. The source for this document was originally published on connecticut.cbslocal.com—however, the original URL is no longer available.]

(Editor’s Note: Boykin did give a full reply to a Fox News Commentator:
Boykin told Fox News & Commentary that he was extremely disappointed in what has happened. “I came under attack because there are liberal groups, Islamic groups and atheist groups that want to shut me down because I have been very open about my concerns about the encroachment of Sharia – or Islamic law,” he said. Boykin said he planned on delivering a speech about the importance of prayer in a leader’s life. “It was an ecumenical presentation,” Boykin said. “It had nothing to do with Islam.” Boykin would not comment on reports that he was pressured to step aside, only to say that he considered the commandant of West Point to be a “good friend of mine – and a very good man.”)

[Editor’s note: The above article is incomplete. The source for this document was originally published on radio.foxnews.com—however, the original URL is no longer available.]