Army approves atheist concert at Fort Bragg
RALEIGH, N.C. - A concert event organized by atheist, agnostic and other non-theist soldiers has been cleared by the Army to take place next spring at Fort Bragg, concert organizers and a spokesman for the post said Monday.
Organizers planned to hold the Rock Beyond Belief event this year, but they canceled after saying Bragg leadership was not providing the same support it gave to an evangelical Christian concert last fall.
The plan is to hold the event on March 31 at the main parade field at Fort Bragg, where the Christian-themed Rock the Fort concert was held. Famed atheist Richard Dawkins is scheduled to appear, along with musicians, speakers and other entertainment.
"This just might be the turning point in our struggle for acceptance," Sgt. Justin Griffith, main organizer of the event and the military director of American Atheists, in an email. "I mean it. I get letters daily from service members asking for advice on how to `do something like what's going on at Fort Bragg'."
Final approval for the event came last week, Bragg spokesman Ben Abel said. The festival will get the same treatment from Bragg that other groups receive, he said.
"Our logistical support will be the same as what we did for Rock the Fort," he said, meaning Bragg will provide the venue, security and basic utilities. "That's what we provide for any private organization."
The event had its origin in the Rock the Fort concert last fall, which was organized by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Groups like Americans United for the Separation of Church and State opposed the event, saying it was an unconstitutional use of military resources aimed at winning converts to Christianity. Military leaders at the time said any private event, regardless of religious orientation, would receive the same level of support, and Griffith, stationed at Bragg, decided to take them up on that.
The initial Rock Beyond Belief concert was scheduled to happen in April, but Griffith called it off after saying Bragg leadership wasn't offering the same support it had given to the Christian event, which Bragg leaders denied. There were disagreements over the venue, the potential size of the crowd and promotional materials, but especially on the subject of funding.
This time around, organizers of the secular festival raised $50,000 for the event, which will pay for speakers and entertainers and other expenses.
"There is no going back in to the `atheist closet,"' wrote Griffith, who has also organized a local chapter of Military Atheists and Secular Humanists for like-minded soldiers and veterans. "We're going to be supported on post for the first time."
Bragg, home to the U.S. Army Airborne and Special Forces, is one of the military's largest bases. It has about 58,000 uniformed military personnel and roughly 13,000 civilian workers. The surrounding community, like much of North Carolina, is home to countless churches, including some with dedicated military ministries and pastors who participated in the Rock the Fort event.
But the Army's decision to allow Rock Beyond Belief shouldn't be seen as threatening to religious belief, said Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which had promised to file a lawsuit if the concert wasn't allowed to go ahead.
"It's not a victory for atheism or agnosticism over any type of religion, it's a victory for the Constitution," he said.
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If that place existed I must say that there would be plenty of vacancies, when the hypochrosy and bigotry of the so called believers is taken into account.
However as you are obviously convinced of this marvellous entity, then you will have no trouble producing the evidence of his/ hers/it's existance.
I wait with great anticipation.please do not disappoint me.
I can not see a God, no person has ever seen a God [ except in their dream,s and wild imagination ], though some strange people imagine they hear voices, and wonderously attribute noises in their heads to this God, eg Joseph Smith, didn't he want more than one wife, God gave him permission, now wasn't that handy, absolutely no evidence can be offered for his/hers/its existance.
Your replay??? of 2.58pm August 10th ia a rehash of the same pathetic reasoning for not being able to provide even the most minimal evidence.
Thank you for being a good Christian this time, and resisting the temptation to call me a thug.
I hope you have had an enjoyable day, as have I.
I have a huge problem with anyone who not only elevates their opinion (whatever it is) to the level of "fact", but condescendingly derides as "insane" anyone who disagrees.
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I have a huge problem with people who abandon rational thought and reason in favor of dogmatic thought.
"What has been Christianity's fruits? Superstition, bigotry, and persecution." --- James Madison
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all." Thomas Jefferson
"I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology." -- Thomas Jefferson
"I looked around for God's judgments, but saw no signs of them." - Ben Franklin
"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth." -- Thomas Jefferson
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." -- Thomas Paine
"I never once met a religious man who was not a brainless boor." - George Washington
"Revealed religion has no weight with me." Benjamin Franklin
"The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion" - George Washington, Treaty of Tripoli, America's first treaty.
by Threewarriors August 9, 2011 9:31 PM EDT
by julianpenrod August 9, 2011 11:51 PM EDT
Why is it that not one of you obviously knowledgable persons have attempted to rise to my challenge.
Is it that there is no evidence of the existance of this God.
Still more instances of people judging the presence or non-presence of God by human standards.
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What other standards do you propose?
1) I don't want someone like that running for national office, when hearing voices is an obvious mental illness
2) I don't want to be ostracized for not sharing a belief in fiction. If Harry Potter came out 2,000 years ago, they'd all be worshiping Dumbledore.
3) I cannot support tax exemption for churches when they clearly hold political sway with their parishoners
4) I would remind them of Matthew 6:6.
.
No different than any other maniac hear voices.