Tag Archives: rock beyond belief

Newest Academy Cadets Eat Doughnuts, Told to Let Go of God

Jason Torpy of the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers is currently engaged in his annual campaign on atheism at the US military academies, which coincides with basic training at each service academy.  The Christian Post picked up on his discussion, and noted that some version of non-sectarian offering was available during basic training to new cadets.

Chaplain Ron Crews of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty acknowledges that those who choose to have no religious faith also have rights — but questions their desire to mimic religious institutions and have chaplains:  Read more

Military Uniform can Defend Homosexuality, but not Breastfeeding

Two members of the Washington state National Guard were recently photographed while breastfeeding their children.  Just as the Time cover recently did, Senior Airman Terran Echegoyen-McCabe and Staff Sgt. Christina Luna also caused controversy, but not for the same reason.  Other moms were also photographed, but it was their presence in uniform that caused the consternation.

While there were some variations of criticism (they didn’t have their hats on outside!), the response from the Washington Air National Guard, which oversees their unit based at Fairchild AFB, WA, was the one that mattered:  Read more

Military Atheists Target Support for Wounded Warriors

In his zeal to attack all things Christian in the military, Justin Griffith — the Army Sergeant made famous by his organization of Rock Beyond Belief at Fort Bragg — once harassed the wives of deployed Fort Bragg soldiers.  Even when he realized he’d made an error — he’d thought he was criticizing the soldiers themselves, as if that’s better — he never publicly apologized.

Now, it seems he’s after the support provided to wounded warriors.  Read more

Fort Bragg Atheists Test Military Politicking Rules

Some may have assumed that with a Democratic President (and the stereotype that the US military leans Republican/conservative), most of those testing the limits of permissible political activities or commentary would be “right wing” or conservatives.

They would be wrong.

The blog for the Rock Beyond Belief event organized by Justin Griffith at Fort Bragg recently posted an article about North Carolina’s Amendment 1, which would modify the NC State Constitution to say the only domestic legal union in the state is Read more

Fort Knox Cancels Ted Nugent Appearance

The US Army post at Fort Knox had apparently invited Ted Nugent, along with Styx and REO Speedwagon, to an event to be held on June 23rd.  Following Ted Nugent’s recent foray into the spotlight for his comments at an NRA convention, his invite has been cancelled.

The reasoning for the cancellation:

A spokesman for Fort Knox told TheBlaze.com that having Nugent perform “would be a conflict of interest since the military has the obligation to be apolitical.”

The article, printed on MSNBC, notes that such a statement is tortured:

Such a claim, though, seems dubious Read more

Fort Bragg Hosts Uneventful Atheist Festival

Fort Bragg’s Rock Beyond Belief passed quietly last Saturday.  While organizers had predicted a crowd of 5,000, Richard Dawkins, the main draw of the event whose “sell out” crowds were the justification for the attendance forecast, ultimately spoke to only “a couple hundred” spectators.  Photos of the event show Aiden, the musical act originally billed as Dawkins’ lead-in, playing to only a few dozen who had stuck out the day.  It also appeared the military base was hosting a largely civilian crowd.

Rain early in the day may have affected attendance, much as the heat affected the Christian Rock the Fort the atheist event was meant to protest.  Rock the Fort reportedly drew 3,000 to 4,000 of the forecast 10,000 (and the atheists had been quick to mock the attendance numbers of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association event).

Interestingly, Col Sicinski was on site of the event and indicated the event wasn’t the controversy it may have been made out to be:  Read more

Atheists Denigrate US Army that Supports Them. Again.

The primary organizer of Rock Beyond Belief, the atheist festival occurring this weekend at Fort Bragg, has — again — drug Fort Bragg and the US Army through the mud in an apparent bid for publicity.

In a sensationally titled “Fort Bragg wont let us feed homeless vets at the atheist festival,” Justin Griffith says Fort Bragg denied their plan to do a canned food collection.  Griffith summarized [emphasis original]:

The ‘pro-starvation’ camp has prevailed…

At issue is Joint Ethics Regulation 3-211, which says the DoD can let non-Federal entities (ie, Rock Beyond Belief) use DoD facilities (ie, Fort Bragg’s resources) except for fundraising events.  Apparently, Fort Bragg determined canned food collection was fundraising.

Whether collecting canned food for a charitable cause constitutes non-Federal fundraising is a legitimate question.  Rather than take direct issue with that, however, Griffith took a different tack:  He said the Christians Read more

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