The 2012 National Character and Leadership Symposium at the US Air Force Academy will be held from 22 to 24 February. Ross Perot will be the keynote speaker.
Other speakers will come from a variety of backgrounds and careers, including a Medal of Honor recipient and
The controversy over the “glam goth” band Aiden being invited to play to a military audience at the atheist Rock Beyond Belief at Fort Bragg has seen comments on a wide variety of websites. In the tradition of “crowd-sourcing” solutions, one commenter came up with a unique idea to ameliorate the scandal: Richard Dawkins should ask that Aiden be removed from the lineup.
Much of the discussion seems to be centered on whether Aiden Read more
While some will doubt the degree to which Christianity and the Bible permeate American culture, it is often interesting to see people cite quotations from the Bible, often unknowingly. (It’s often more entertaining to see them claim something is in the Bible that isn’t, though.)
A recent article from Army.mil talked of an Army unit helping give Afghans a way to live their lives without having to fight for the Taliban to support themselves. The Army is trying Read more
Fox News and Commentary indicated retired LtGen William Jerry Boykin withdrew from the February 8th National Prayer Breakfast at West Point — after West Point asked him to withdraw.
The U.S. Military Academy pressured a retired U.S. lieutenant general to withdraw from speaking at a West Point prayer breakfast after Muslims and atheists complained, Fox News & Commentary has learned…
“[Boykin] asked them to rescind the invitation, but they were reluctant to do that so he said he would take them off the hook.”
The article also noted Michael Weinstein jumping the shark Read more
The Associated Press reported a West Point press release indicating General Jerry Boykin had withdrawn from the upcoming West Point National Prayer Breakfast:
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.
The choice of Boykin to speak at the event was criticized by several groups because of his prior statements about Islam:
CAIR also asked West Point officials to retract Boykin’s invitation
“It gives Islamophobes a platform Read more
Michael Weinstein recently wrote a scathing letter demanding retired LtGen William “Jerry” Boykin be prohibited from speaking to the US Military Academy (West Point) National Prayer Breakfast on February 8th. The reason: Boykin is, in Weinstein’s words, “rabidly Islamophobic.” (That’s the same word he used to describe Franklin Graham in 2010, when he was invited to a similar event.)
Simultaneously, Michael Weinstein has defended and is helping advertise Rock Beyond Belief — which last week received a significant amount of negative attention for inviting what he would seemingly describe as a “rabidly religiophobic” music group to perform. In fact, the “rabidly Christophobic” Michael Weinstein is scheduled to be one of the event’s speakers. Weinstein should probably look up the meaning of “phobia.”
Of course, it makes no sense for a person to use the “defense of religious Read more
In an interesting bit of timing, several groups have decried the decision by West Point to invite retired LtGen William Boykin, author of Never Surrender, to their National Prayer Breakfast on February 8th. The self-described “progressive” VoteVets.org wrote to West Point Superintendent LtGen David Huntoon saying
You may not be aware of Lieutenant General Boykin’s history of extremist and hateful comments towards Islam…
These remarks are incompatible with the Army values, and a person who is incompatible with Army values should not address the cadets of the United States Military Academy.
Where have we heard similar cries before? Ah, yes: The claim Franklin Graham was an “Islamophobe” and therefore an inappropriate speaker at a similar event at the Pentagon. The critics won that one, and Graham’s invitation was rescinded based on his prior speech, not on what he might have said if he had been allowed to attend. Tony Perkins was “disinvited” for his public comments that were wholly unrelated to his event, as well. Likewise, Michael Weinstein demanded Read more
Love how they burn your synagogues…
– Lyrics by Aiden, Rock Beyond Belief lead-in act
The band Aiden has announced it will be playing the atheist festival “Rock Beyond Belief” at Fort Bragg in March 2012, as the lead-in act to Richard Dawkins, the main attraction at the “concert.”
Never heard of them? You’re not the only one. But first, take a look at what the band said in their announcement [emphasis added]:
Justin Griffith, the soldier in charge of setting this up has a very interesting story to tell. The United States military had no problems funding a christian based musical event, but when it was suggested that the large number of atheists and secular humanists who are enlisted, would like to have a function of their own choosing, the top leaders at Fort Bragg decided to pull the plug on the entire thing. Cutting the funding without any reason at all, that I can see, except that maybe christians in the Army are the only ones allowed to have fun…
They fought the law and THEY WON.
Given that they attribute their information to the soldier hosting Rock Beyond Belief, Justin Griffith, its unlikely a call to correct their misinformation would go far.
For the record (again, and again), the US military did not fund a “Christian Read more