Stephen Coughlin

"Late in 2007, Major Stephen Coughlin, USAR, the Pentagon’s lone expert on Islamic law (Sharia) on the Joint Staff, was asked by Hesham Islam, special assistant for international affairs for the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Gordon R. England, to moderate his statements about Islam’s doctrines mandating warfare against and the subjugation of unbelievers. In response, Coughlin, cited Islamic sources to show that he was portraying Islamic teaching accurately. According to journalist Bill Gertz in the Washington Times, Islam and other Muslims in the Pentagon then began campaigning to have Coughlin fired, calling him a “Christian zealot with a pen.” Ultimately, Coughlin’s contract was not renewed."

June 2011: Coughlin is listed as a Fellow of Avi Davis's American Freedom Alliance on one page, but not on another.