{"id":10042,"date":"2011-03-10T03:00:22","date_gmt":"2011-03-10T08:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=10042"},"modified":"2015-06-27T19:15:27","modified_gmt":"2015-06-27T22:15:27","slug":"rock-beyond-belief-funded-b-from-the-christian-collection-plate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/10\/rock-beyond-belief-funded-b-from-the-christian-collection-plate\/","title":{"rendered":"Rock Beyond Belief: Funded by the Christian Collection Plate?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The question of equitable treatment of “Rock Beyond Belief” has already been addressed in general terms<\/a>.\u00a0 What follows below is a more in-depth discussion on some of the specifics of the “Rock Beyond Belief” controversy, including Affiliation<\/strong>, Attendance<\/strong>, Funding<\/strong>, and Content<\/strong>.\u00a0 It will certainly be referenced for the MRFF case file (Chris Rodda has undoubtedly been waiting for this), and Fort Bragg may even take a peek at it;\u00a0it’s here for all to see.<\/p>\n

If you only have a few minutes, recommended reading is the section on Funding<\/strong>, though Content<\/strong> is also enlightening.<\/p>\n

There’s one interesting qualifier:\u00a0 At least two of the issues below, about which supporters of RBB are only now<\/em> complaining, were known last year<\/em>.\u00a0 Guess who brought them up?\u00a0 “Rock Beyond Belief”…<\/p>\n

Affiliation:<\/strong> “Rock Beyond Belief” organizers announced\u00a0last year<\/em> that\u00a0the Christian “Rock the Fort” was not<\/em> an MWR-affiliated event.\u00a0 Instead, it was affiliated with the Chaplaincy.\u00a0 By contrast, “Rock Beyond Belief” appears to be affiliated with…no one.\u00a0 It seems to be trying<\/em> to affiliate with MWR, but it does not appear to have met the necessary thresholds.\u00a0 Thus, since one is a Chaplain’s event and the other an attempted MWR event, the whole basis of comparison (whether or not RBB is a “comparable” event to RtF) may be skewed.<\/p>\n

Attendance:<\/strong>\u00a0 In order to obtain access to the parade grounds,\u00a0“Rock Beyond Belief” organizers said last year<\/em> they needed to project — and prove —\u00a0attendance of greater than 2,500.\u00a0 Based on the wording of the Fort Bragg letter approving<\/em> the event, it does not appear Fort Bragg was convinced they would draw a crowd of that size.\u00a0 Thus, while the event is authorized<\/em>, it may not receive the level of\u00a0support<\/em> that a larger event would.\u00a0 (The MRFF has repeatedly claimed they will<\/em> draw a large crowd, but researcher Chris Rodda has provided no support for her assertion, nor any evidence Fort Bragg received convincing support of that assertion.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

It appears Fort Bragg was placed between a rock and a hard place.\u00a0 They could approve MWR support for RBB, but in so doing they would have to treat RBB differently<\/em> than RtF: they would have to give RBB support where it would have been denied<\/em> to other organizations (and reportedly was<\/em> denied to RtF).\u00a0 Or, they could follow the standard guidance — knowing no matter what they did, Weinstein would complain.<\/p>\n

Funding:\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0The MRFF’s Chris Rodda continues to cite the canard that “Rock Beyond Belief” has been “denied” funding that\u00a0“Rock the Fort”\u00a0received.\u00a0 She has yet\u00a0to produce a single document denying similar funding requests, and she\u00a0misses an important distinction.<\/p>\n

“Rock the Fort”<\/span> was an event<\/em>.\u00a0 It was held by two organizations<\/em>: the external, non-Federal Billy Graham Evangelical Association (BGEA) and the Fort Bragg Garrison Religious Support Office (RSO).\u00a0\u00a0There is no public evidence BGEA\u00a0(the non-Federal entity) received a single dollar for their event.<\/p>\n

“Rock Beyond Belief”<\/span> is both an event and<\/em> an organization — an external, non-Federal organization, just like BGEA.\u00a0 It has not publicly identified any other groups by which it (the event) is being held.\u00a0 Just like RtF, there is no evidence RBB (the non-Federal entity) has received any funds.<\/p>\n

All\u00a0Fort Bragg funds associated with “Rock the Fort” were handled\u00a0through the Chaplain’s Religious Support Office.\u00a0 In fact, the FOIA-released documents contain an interesting piece of information most people haven’t noticed:\u00a0 the “fund manager” listed on the budget isn’t employed by MWR.\u00a0 He’s a Chaplain’s assistant<\/em>.\u00a0 Now, if the funds RtF used were the same MWR<\/span> funds RBB is\u00a0reportedly requesting, why did a Chaplain’s assistant produce the budget document?<\/p>\n

It seems the funds used for “Rock the Fort” were part of the chapel<\/em> funds.\u00a0\u00a0Again, “Rock Beyond Belief” knew this last year<\/em>, and even indicated it was going to coordinate with the Chaplain’s office months<\/em> ago.\u00a0 Apparently, nothing came of this.**<\/span>\u00a0 Had RBB also associated with the RSO, the RSO — still, not<\/em> RBB — may<\/em> have had access to some\u00a0funding.\u00a0 Even that, however, is not a certainty.\u00a0 If, as some have speculated<\/a>, the RtF funds came from the “Chapel Tithes and Offerings Funds,” then RBB was not<\/em>\u00a0guaranteed access to them.\u00a0 CTOF resources are collected from the donations of military chapel congregants, which the US Army recognizes as an inherently religious act.\u00a0 The CTOF accounts are<\/em> considered government funds, but they don’t come from<\/em> the government: they come from individual congregants in distinct religious services.<\/p>\n

Thus, when Chris Rodda claims\u00a0“Fort Bragg” paid “$50,000” for “Rock the Fort,” she’s\u00a0being disingenuous.\u00a0 In truth, the chapel congregations<\/em> at Fort Bragg donated<\/em> that money; it was not<\/em> taxpayer money.<\/p>\n

In fact, if RtF did use CTOF funds, and RBB truly wanted access to the same<\/em> funds, the atheists of “Rock Beyond Belief” would have to\u00a0take money from the church collection plate <\/em>to support their “secularist” event.<\/p>\n

It appears they didn’t actually make that request (a wise public relations move).\u00a0 Instead, they went to MWR for funds.\u00a0 Once they did that, however, they were no longer similarly situated to “Rock the Fort.”<\/em>\u00a0 For RBB to ask for MWR funds\u00a0and then have Michael Weinstein claim RtF\u00a0got “preferential treatment” is grossly misleading — since RtF received no MWR funds.<\/p>\n

Despite the MRFF’s complaints, “Rock Beyond Belief” had equal access<\/em> to the same source of funds as “Rock the Fort:”\u00a0 It could (and reportedly did<\/em>) “pass the plate” among like-minded atheists and supporters.<\/p>\n

If this funding situation is true, despite Michael\u00a0Weinstein’s grandstanding, the as-yet-unfiled lawsuit is dead in the water.<\/p>\n

Content: <\/strong>Finally, there is one more little-known “requirement” of the military hosting a “similar” event:\u00a0 Missed by many has been the fact Fort Bragg restricted the content<\/em> of what was said at “Rock the Fort.”\u00a0 As noted in the After Action Report:<\/p>\n

The bands and speakers stayed within the parameters that we gave them as directed by LTG Helmick, “in other words keep it low key…share encouraging music and a gospel message with no statements that are critical of other religions<\/em>.” (emphasis added)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(Interestingly, no one has complained that the US military restricted the religious speech at what Michael Weinstein has described as a “Christian orgy.”<\/a>)<\/p>\n

As previously noted, “Rock Beyond Belief” has invited Michael Weinstein and Richard Dawkins, two men who make their livings being “critical of other religions.”\u00a0 Invited musical guests also have a history of similar criticism.\u00a0 Does anyone really expect they could fill a stage for 8 hours with people whose lives revolve around attacking religion and meet such a stringent requirement?<\/p>\n

\n

**<\/span><\/strong>This is potentially “Rock Beyond Belief’s” strongest argument.\u00a0 If<\/span><\/em> RBB can prove<\/em> they were denied<\/em> support by the RSO because of their ideology <\/em>(and, as a result, they lost access to funding), they may have a case.<\/p>\n

However<\/em>, that is an argument that should have been made last year<\/em>, when that conversation took place.\u00a0 It is completely unrelated to these recent developments.\u00a0 Importantly, the RSO is not obligated to support every event at every request, so there may be legitimate reasons such a request would be denied — but ideology\/theology is not one of them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The question of equitable treatment of “Rock Beyond Belief” has already been addressed in general terms.\u00a0 What follows below is a more in-depth discussion on some of the specifics of the “Rock Beyond Belief” controversy, including Affiliation, Attendance, Funding, and Content.\u00a0 It will certainly be referenced for the MRFF case file (Chris Rodda has undoubtedly been waiting for this), and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[88,20,429,5284,175,4,1023,85,2,5218,7,1066,10,171,1126,1056],"class_list":["post-10042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-and-religion","tag-army","tag-atheism","tag-billy-graham","tag-chaplain","tag-chris-rodda","tag-churchandstate","tag-fort-bragg","tag-mikey-weinstein","tag-military","tag-military-religious-freedom-foundation","tag-mrff","tag-mwr","tag-religion","tag-religious-freedom","tag-rock-beyond-belief","tag-rock-the-fort"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10042\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}