{"id":9896,"date":"2011-03-04T02:44:09","date_gmt":"2011-03-04T07:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/?p=9896"},"modified":"2015-06-27T19:15:29","modified_gmt":"2015-06-27T22:15:29","slug":"rock-beyond-belief-cancelled-weinstein-promises-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/2011\/03\/04\/rock-beyond-belief-cancelled-weinstein-promises-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Rock Beyond Belief Cancelled, Weinstein Promises Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated <\/span><\/strong>with Weinstein quote.<\/em><\/p>\n

Just a few days after announcing its planned date, the atheist response to the Billy Graham “Rock the Fort,” “Rock Beyond Belief<\/a>,” has been cancelled\u00a0— not by the US Army post at Fort Bragg, which had agreed to host it, nor by critics, who have been silent or nonexistent.<\/p>\n

“Rock Beyond Belief” cancelled\u00a0itself<\/a>.\u00a0 And as predictably as the sun rising in the East, Michael Weinstein has announced plans to sue the US Army as a result.<\/p>\n

It almost seems like choreography.<\/p>\n

The reasons for the cancellation include\u00a0an apparent lack of financial support from Fort Bragg<\/em> and\u00a0the venue provided by Fort Bragg<\/em>.\u00a0 Importantly, more than\u00a0the money or the location Fort Bragg was\u00a0providing, Michael Weinstein has made an issue of\u00a0what\u00a0the Army was providing\u00a0when compared to<\/em>\u00a0the prior “Rock the Fort:”<\/p>\n

An advocacy group that watches for signs of religious bias in the military says it plans to file a lawsuit over the cancellation, arguing that Fort Bragg leaders have shown clear favoritism toward evangelical Christians at the expense of other groups…<\/p>\n

Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and a planned speaker for the event, said his group plans to file the lawsuit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Update<\/span>:<\/strong> In fact, Weinstein says it was all<\/em> about “Rock the Fort,”<\/a> not “Rock Beyond Belief:”<\/p>\n

“We feel that we’ve been completely bamboozled,” Weinstein said. “This is a scandalous outrage by the U.S. Army to have led us on for months thinking that we would be allowed to have an event to counter their fundamentalist Christian orgy<\/em> that they allowed.”\u00a0 (emphasis added)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Weinstein’s quote is misleading, since the decision by the Army was to approve, not disapprove, the event.\u00a0 His\u00a0insinuation about\u00a0“favoritism” in financial support is surprisingly disingenuous.\u00a0 In its\u00a0approval <\/em>of the event,\u00a0Fort Bragg’s Col. Stephen Sicinski said:<\/p>\n

Rock Beyond Belief will maintain responsibility for all expenses associated with performers and presenters, transportation, audio\/visual support, and meals for associated performers and presenters.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request by another atheist organization, the official documentation following\u00a0last year’s “Rock the Fort,” now publicized, said this:<\/p>\n

All artist flight fees, all artist performance fees, and all stage fees were funded by Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The accusation of “favoritism” is based solely on the Army’s announcement of approval, and nothing in that approval indicates a financial treatment unique to “Rock Beyond Belief.”\u00a0 Thus, the guidance given to “Rock Beyond Belief,” contrary to the Weinstein accusation, seems to be consistent<\/em> with what occurred during\u00a0Rock the Fort.\u00a0 (For what its worth, Fort Bragg doesn’t say RBB couldn’t\u00a0ask the military for funds; it only said that RBB, not the military, is responsible<\/em> for the expenses.)<\/p>\n

With regard to\u00a0the venue, RBB had wanted to use the parade field, as had “Rock the Fort.”\u00a0 From Sicinski’s approval:<\/p>\n

As [the] planned program consists of primarily of speakers and musical performers (who are not chart-makers), the venue for [the] event will be the Main Post Theater or the York Theater.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nothing in the approval of the atheist event indicates any malice; in fact, it appears the Army was even trying to be helpful.\u00a0 Unlike “Rock the Fort,” “Rock Beyond Belief” did not have bouncy castles, face painting, parachutists, or other events that required outdoor facilities.\u00a0 Even some RBB supporters have ribbed the event because, despite having “Rock” in its name, its program is almost entirely invited speakers<\/em>, not musical artists.\u00a0 No public statement to date has indicated anything other than speakers and singers would be at the event.\u00a0 A theater (seating 700, according to some sources) seems entirely appropriate.<\/p>\n

While Weinstein may not like<\/em> the order\u00a0approving<\/em> the military’s hosting of the event, no one ever claimed the military would provide everything “Rock Beyond Belief” wanted<\/em>.\u00a0 General Helmick and his staff repeatedly said they would provide “similar support” for “comparable” events.\u00a0 The “support” in the approval<\/em> was not altogether inequitable compare to\u00a0that seemingly provided to other events.<\/p>\n

Again, the event was\u00a0approved<\/em>.\u00a0 No person in the military said atheists could not fellowship with like minded non-believers.\u00a0 “Rock Beyond Belief” chose to cancel itself<\/em>.\u00a0 The approval order also did not deny “Rock Beyond Belief” any further support they might think to request.<\/p>\n

For his part, Weinstein has a history of going off prematurely.\u00a0 (See, for example, the reason his previous lawsuits<\/a>\u00a0against the military have been dismissed: he filed his lawsuits before normal administrative systems had been used, and the courts tossed out the lawsuits as a result.)\u00a0 This case is no different.\u00a0 In his typical “fire, aim, ready” mantra, Weinstein planned his attack on the Army poorly.<\/p>\n

Weinstein has said he plans to sue because the US Army showed “favoritism;” ie, it did not provide the same level of support to “Rock Beyond Belief” as it did “Rock the Fort,” thus “favoring” the Christian event over the atheist one.\u00a0 His case would have been demonstrable if<\/em> the atheist event actually happened<\/em>.\u00a0 Since it didn’t, any support they may have gotten is now conjecture.\u00a0 In addition, different<\/em> is not the same as inequitable<\/em>.\u00a0 For example, accusing the Army of violating the Constitution because it authorized the parade field for one event but a theatre for the other is not actionable discrimination.\u00a0 There is no Consitutional guarantee to the same geographic real estate from one group to another.<\/p>\n

So why did\u00a0the plug get pulled?\u00a0 There are a couple of speculative reasons:<\/p>\n

Rock Beyond Belief sincerely cannot continue without financial support<\/strong><\/em> for the invited speakers.\u00a0 If that is the case, it was\u00a0correct to cancel the event, but wrong for Weinstein\u00a0to accuse the Army of disparate treatment.\u00a0 Contrary to the accusations, the financial guidance\u00a0to the events appears to have been similar.<\/p>\n

Rock Beyond Belief was never going to\u00a0happen<\/em> <\/strong>without a scandal.\u00a0 Not that those who wanted it weren’t sincere, but Weinstein’s prior conduct (see, for example, USAFA) has indicated that no matter how far the military has bent over backwards trying to make him happy, he still finds reason to complain (or sue).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rock Beyond Belief may\u00a0still happen<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 It didn’t have to be canceled, and it can still be reinstated.\u00a0 The “on again, off again” accusations may be an effort on Weinstein’s part to raise publicity or funds; regrettably,\u00a0at the expense of the US Army’s image.<\/p>\n

Michael Weinstein\u00a0knew this was the best\u00a0he could get<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 If “Rock Beyond Belief” had gone off without a hitch, Weinstein’s mantra of the victimhood of the non-Christian in the US military would have suffered.\u00a0 Weinstein’s cause benefits from a perceived “hostility” between the military and non-Christians; to have a “smooth” event for non-Christians in the same US military he accuses of being “Christianized” would have undermined his efforts.\u00a0 In addition, if RBB had\u00a0partially filled a large theater, it would be difficult to\u00a0later<\/em> complain about the Army’s support because\u00a0actual attendance numbers would\u00a0defend\u00a0the Army’s\u00a0response.\u00a0 Thus, in order to use “Rock Beyond Belief” to further his agenda, Weinstein has to use it now<\/em>, and he gets more publicity from it being “cancelled” than complaining but allowing the event to proceed.<\/p>\n

As already stated, “Rock Beyond Belief” can still go on, and there is no apparent reason it shouldn’t.\u00a0 Atheist servicemembers are free to fellowship together, and Fort Bragg is even offering to provide them a forum to do so on a grand scale in its approval of “Rock Beyond Belief.”\u00a0 Whether or not RBB chooses to use it is its own decision.<\/p>\n

There is nothing in Fort Bragg’s response that indicates their level of support has anything to do with the ideology of the event.\u00a0 In addition, there is nothing in Fort Bragg’s approval that prevents the event from occurring.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen whether Weinstein will follow through on his legal threat, as he frequently fails to do.\u00a0 He previously indicated\u00a0he was unable to find a lawyer in all of\u00a0North Carolina\u00a0willing to take his case.<\/p>\n

Which might tell you something…<\/p>\n

Also at the Christian Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Updated with Weinstein quote. Just a few days after announcing its planned date, the atheist response to the Billy Graham “Rock the Fort,” “Rock Beyond Belief,” has been cancelled\u00a0— not by the US Army post at Fort Bragg, which had agreed to host it, nor by critics, who have been silent or nonexistent. “Rock Beyond Belief” cancelled\u00a0itself.\u00a0 And as predictably […]<\/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":[88,20,4,82,1023,1025,85,2,5218,7,17,10,171,1126,1056,1549,65],"class_list":["post-9896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-and-religion","tag-army","tag-atheism","tag-churchandstate","tag-constitution","tag-fort-bragg","tag-frank-helmick","tag-mikey-weinstein","tag-military","tag-military-religious-freedom-foundation","tag-mrff","tag-religious-expression","tag-religion","tag-religious-freedom","tag-rock-beyond-belief","tag-rock-the-fort","tag-stephen-sicinski","tag-usafa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9896","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=9896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianfighterpilot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}