Rock Beyond Belief Canceled - US Army Being Sued In Federal Court

It is a travesty of epic proportions and a mockery of the Constitution.

Rock Beyond Belief has been canceled. This event would been a phenomenal opportunity for the organization of future events, and an awesome show of our strength, resilience and resolve.

To give you some background about what this event was all about, we have to go back to September of last year. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association held a concert on the Fort Bragg Main Parade Field that was billed as "Rock the Fort." The Graham event was specifically and unashamedly evangelical. It was actively promoted via letters sent to the community by the Senior Fort Bragg Chaplain and was billed as a "Family Fun Event," clearly having been marketed toward children and youth. This was a serious breach in the authority of the Chaplaincy, which is supposed to exist as a support function only. Chaplains are not supposed to be promoting, in any way, government-sponsored marketing of a one particular faith message. The Billy Graham people hailed it as an event to add new members to the local churches and it was fully and completely supported and endorsed by the United States Army. The result was a government sponsored church service that the Department of Defense paid for.

When the event organizer, Sgt. Justin Griffith, brought the fact that US Army support, endorsement and financial backing of the Billy Graham event was blatantly in violation of the First Amendment and that he was organizing Rock Beyond Belief, the military leaders said they would support similar events by non-Christian groups. In fact, this promise was put in writing by the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate at Fort Bragg to the Freedom From Religion Foundation .

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SGT Griffith,

I’m an active-duty SFC stationed at Ft Drum (disclaimer – my comments are entirely my own, and do not represent official Army positions). Just heard this report from a variety of websites, including Rational Skepticism. I’m disappointed that the Command at Ft Bragg chose this course of action. I’d like to say I’m surprised, but after my experience with command-supported evangelical Christian crap during my years at Bragg, I’m not.

You have a lot of people watching this unfold, and working to try to make the Ft Bragg Command follow regulations and policies to provide equal support for non-religious Soldiers. Keep up the good work, and let us all know if there’s anything we can do to help.

Sincerely,
Paul Weaver

NamelessFaceless wrote:I don't see how the military gets away with this shit. I hope St. Griffith wins. This would be an awesome event.

I had no idea they were this powerful!

Fort Bragg has ordered us to shut down or accept a cunnning compromise. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has offered to mediate the recent controversial situation with the only power that really talks: the all-mighty dollar. We are now approaching a Sophie’s Choice here. We can move forward with a Rock Beyond the Fort interfaith event, or cancel.

One RBB headliner, Richard Dawkins may have to perform alongside Christian rockers, Jars Of Clay! We really underestimated how powerful these guys were, and how strong of an influence they have over Army officials.