Tag Archives: atheism

Chaplain on Spiritual Resilience: Ask “Why?”

Air Force Chaplain (Maj) Kent Schmidt has an article on spiritual resilience, part of the four-pillar Comprehensive Airman Fitness, in which he encourages his readers to “focus on the why:”

It’s all too easy for those of us serving in a high tempo Air Force to get driven and consumed by the “What?”…Getting caught up in the reactive world, some call it the tyranny of the urgent, can cause us to lose sight of the “Why?” The “Why” becomes subsumed by the “What.”

I’d like to encourage you to make it a point to daily, take a deep breath or two, close your door, dim your computer screen and close your eyes and ask yourself “Why?” Why am I doing what I’m doing today? Why am I on this current trajectory?  Read more

Army Major Wants Humanism as Religious Option

US Army Major Ray Bradley wants military records to be altered so he can express his religion as “humanist,” which is not currently an option.

[Bradley] can’t be designated as a humanist on his official records or dog tags, although he can be classified as an atheist.

The distinction may not seem like a large one to those unfamiliar with humanism, but the Fort Bragg-based officer says it’s the equivalent of being told that “Christian” is an acceptable designation, but not “Catholic.”

“Humanism is a philosophy that guides a person,” Bradley said. “It’s more than just a stamp of what you’re not.”

As to the confusion about whether atheists are humanists, or vice versa:  Read more

Atheist Soldier Ordered to Attend Billy Graham Event, Detained

The National Atheist Party (seriously) recently announced its association with the atheist Rock Beyond Belief occurring at Fort Bragg at the end of March.

In their short write-up, the atheists said this [emphasis added]:

While serving under an active duty enlistment, Mr. Griffith was ordered to attend a Christian festival hosted by Billy Graham, and subsequently detained for his refusal.

Now, what’s more shocking: that Rock Beyond Belief event organizer and American Atheist “military director” Justin Griffith was detained after he refused an order to attend the BGEA’s Rock the Fort, or that in the past 18 months this spectacular storyline has never been mentioned?

Wouldn’t this make a perfect military atheist persecution story?  The atheist party seemed to think so.

For anyone who has followed the story, there’s a simple explanation:

The atheist story isn’t true.

No one was forced to attend, and no one was “detained” over Rock the Fort.  Apparently, what really happened Read more

Christians Rocked Beyond Belief, in 1990

In 2010 some reacted with consternation after reports Christians had been to the circle claimed by pagans at the US Air Force Academy.  As noted at the time, they failed to acknowledge the area known as the “LZ” had been used for Christian gatherings of one sort or another for some years before the pagans laid claim to the clearing.

It turns out Rock Beyond Belief — the name of the atheist counter-Christian event being held at Fort Bragg — has a Christian history, as well.  The Christian music group Petra, named after the Greek word for “rock,” was one of the pioneering groups in the Christian music genre.

In 1990 they produced an album called Petra: Beyond Belief. As if predicting an association with the military, the album cover was graced by a photograph of an Air National Guard C-130.

The title track, Beyond Belief, is a call to Christians to do more than just “believe.”

Watch the video and see lyrics below the fold.

With credit to Barb for the point out.

Read more

Rep Randy Forbes Calls on Air Force to Put God Back in Motto

US Representative Randy Forbes (R-Va) has written a letter (PDF) signed by 35 members of the House asking the Air Force restore a unit’s motto that was changed after an atheist’s complaint.  The incident to which Rep Forbes is referring was actually first reported on ChristianFighterPilot.com, with the Religion Clause and the ADF Alliance Alert subsequently citing this site.

As noted three weeks ago, the USAF Rapid Capabilities Office responded to “needling” from former Army Captain Jason Torpy, an atheist, and changed its motto from “Doing God’s work with other people’s money” to “Doing miracles with other people’s money.”

The letter, addressed to Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley and Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz, says:

It has come to our attention that the US Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (RCO) has modified the logo on its official patch to remove its reference to “God,” following a complaint from Read more

Richard Dawkins Should Disinvite Aiden from Rock Beyond Belief

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

LtGen Boykin “Pressured” Out of West Point Prayer Breakfast

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

Fort Bragg Reviewing Atheist Rock Beyond Belief Lineup

Last Friday, a report that briefly joined the top stories on Fox News indicated Fort Bragg would be “reviewing” some of the planned performers at the upcoming atheist festival known as Rock Beyond Belief, the atheist response to the Billy Graham Evangelical Association’s Rock the Fort.

Benjamin Abel, a spokesman for Fort Bragg told Fox News & Commentary that they were launching a review of the bands scheduled to perform along with their content.

“This is a family-friendly event and we expect the Read more

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