U.S. Soldiers Punished For Not Attending chrisTian Concert

[Ian David]

U.S. Soldiers Punished For Not Attending chrisTian Concert

For the past several years, two U.S. Army posts in Virginia, Fort Eustis and Fort Lee, have been putting on a series of what are called Commanding General's Spiritual Fitness Concerts. As I've written in a number of other posts, "spiritual fitness" is just the military's new term for promoting religion, particularly evangelical chrisTianity. And this concert series is no different.

On May 13, 2010, about eighty soldiers, stationed at Fort Eustis while attending a training course, were punished for opting out of attending one of these chrisTian concerts. The headliner at this concert was a chrisTian rock band called BarlowGirl, a band that describes itself as taking "an aggressive, almost warrior-like stance when it comes to spreading the gospel and serving God."

Any doubt that this was an evangelical chrisTian event was cleared up by the Army post's newspaper, the Fort Eustis Wheel, which ran an article after the concert that began:

"Following the Apostle Paul's message to the Ephesians in the Bible, Christian rock music's edgy, all-girl band BarlowGirl brought the armor of God to the warriors and families of Fort Eustis during another installment of the Commanding General's Spiritual Fitness Concert Series May 13 at Jacobs Theater."

<snip>

A few days later, some of the soldiers punished for choosing not to attend this concert contacted the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). The following is from the account sent by one of those soldiers to MRFF, detailing what transpired that night.

More:
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/8/19/113223/843

Hat-tip to: http://twitter.com/dksithlord/status/21592612434

[louis-t]

1. This has got to stop.

Military will need to be sued to stop this behaviour, I believe.

[JuniperLea]

2. I wonder how many of our tax dollars are being used...

To fund these shows... this is really over the top disgusting.

[rusty quoin]

4. The article goes on to say that the bands cost up to $100,000,

and one event cost over a mil.

[grantcart]

12. 3.5 million

The cost of these concerts led MRFF's research department to start looking at some of the DoD contracts for other "spiritual fitness" events and programs, and what we found was astounding. One contract, for example, awarded to an outside consulting firm to provide "spiritual fitness" services, was for $3.5 million.

[JuniperLea]

14. Jeebus!

Disgusting.

[thereismore]

3. BarlowGirl on the one man that God has for them (one man for all three?):

"We believe that God has one perfect man already chosen for us; therefore we have no need to worry ourselves in searching for him. When the time is right, we know God will bring us together. In the mean time, we are not hiding in a closet avoiding all males, we are still living our lives, just without the pressure of having to have a boyfriend." per Wiki

[Ian David]

6. I'm pretty sure they're all just doing each other.

"... we are not hiding in a closet..."

Uh-huh.

[Jokerman]

9. They're sisters.

Biological sisters, not "sisters".

If you're right that'll really make Jesus spin in his grave.

Oh wait...

[Greyskye]

5. unconstitutional.

:kick: & R

[GreenTea]

7. Our right-wing military is really working towards an army of ask-no-questions-die Christian soldiers

going blindly into battle, fighting & dying for the rich and their corporations imperialism - because god wants you to.

One of the major reasons they are trying to make Islam the evil enemy (because the greedy "Christian" rich corporations want all that oil)....

And the uninformed programed Christian soldiers will die being told & believing it's all for a noble cause.....Patriotism!

Right, just more money & power for the wealthy....as it's always been all through history!

Onward Christian soldiers blindly marching off to war!

[Angry Dragon]

11. Onward Christian soldiers blindly marching off to war!

Always liked that song when I was being taught religion ...... still like it
Just I understand it in a different perspective now

[cleanhippie]

8. How is this shit allowed to continue?

[BrklynLiberal]

10. Kudos to those brave and principled soldiers who spoke out.

The Dominionists and Christian Reconstructionists are truly trying to take over the military...and the rest of the govt as well

http://www.theocracywatch.org/

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/DirectoryRiseOfDominionismInAmerica.html

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dominionism

http://www.yuricareport.com/Dominionism/TheDespoilingOfAmerica.htm

[Ratty]

13. Yeah, I'm surprised but delighted almost half of those forcibly marched there refused

[tblue37]

15. And many of those who were afraid to refuse nevertheless did NOT

want to be there.

[SocialistLez]

16. I am sure uproar will be subdued because it was a CHRISTIAN concert

If there were a Muslim concert or a speaker for atheists, all hell would break loose.

[DFW]

17. Why do we even pretend there is a reason to fight the Taliban ?

Their soulmates are already running some of our army bases.

[LiberalFighter]

18. The military individuals responsible should be required to repay the cost.

[DeSwiss]

19. A lawsuit will have to be filed.....

...against these dumbass mofos because the politicians of today are too fucking afraid of religionists to take them on. http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org/">Mikey Weinstein has been battling these religionist pricks damn-near single-handed for years.

[struggle4progress]

20. Army investigating Ft. Eustis incident involving religious concert

by 13 News
13NEWS / WVEC.com
Posted on August 20, 2010 at 9:07 PM

NEWPORT NEWS-- The Army said Friday it was investigating a claim that dozens of soldiers who refused to attend a Christian band's concert at a Virginia military base were banished to their barracks and told to clean them up ... At the Pentagon, Army spokesman Col. Thomas Collins said .... "If something like that were to have happened, it would be contrary to Army policy," Collins said. Pvt. Anthony Smith said .... a staff sergeant told 200 men in their barracks they could either attend or remain in their barracks .. Smith said he and the other soldiers were told not to use their cell phones or personal computers and ordered to clean up the barracks. About 20 of the men, including several Muslims, refused to attend the concert based on their religious beliefs, he said ... http://www.wvec.com/news/military/Army-investigating-Ft-Eustis-incident-involving-religious-concert-101202334.html