“Washington, D.C. – Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told young Americans to wait until President Barack Obama is out of office to join the military because his administration has “an open hostility toward the Christian faith.”

“Huckabee, speaking with Iowa talk-radio host Jan Mickelson, made the comments last week in response to a Washington Times story that alleges Christians are leaving the military because of a “hostile” work environment. He agreed with the assessment, calling it “one of the great tragedies of our time.”

““This administration has had an open hostility toward the Christian faith,” he said, telling Mickelson that the administration has ordered “its chaplains to put its Bibles away, not to pray in Jesus’ name, not to counsel people on the issues of sexual morality.”

“When you have this attitude that is more about promoting gay marriage and gay rights in the military than it is about being able to protect religious liberty for those people of faith, it’s going to be hard to find people that are truly devoted people of faith and Christian believers and Orthodox Jews and others,” he said.

“Huckabee continued: “Why would they want to be in a military that would be openly hostile and not just simply bring some scorn to their faith, but would punish them for it?” The potential Republican presidential contender has been a prominent critic of the Obama administration, and the president in particular, on religious and moral grounds. He’s previously criticized the President for allowing his daughters to listen to music he’s called “toxic mental poison.”

Speaking exclusively to Newslo, Huckabee stated that “the US military, one of the remaining bastions of American strength, honor and courage, has become the largest promoter of sexual deviance and fornication during Obama’s presidency.”

“It pains me deeply to see what the US Army has become in recent years. If this trend continues, soon we will be the laughing stock of the world. In fact, if Obama had sons, I wonder if he would allow them to serve their country with the state of the military as it is right now. It’s that bad,” he said.