May 8, 2011
Sergeant Justin Griffith was aghast that the U.S. Army had
organized and supported a Christian Rock festival for soldiers at
North Carolina's Fort Bragg Army Base. In response, he organized an
event for secular soldiers and officers to give the non-Christians
an event "For the rest of us." He lined up great speakers including
Richard Dawkins, Margaret Downey, Hemant Mehta, Jen McCreight and
Mikey Weinstein along with performers Roy Zimmerman, Baba Brinkman
and Spoonboy. The event was all scheduled and set to go, and the
Command had approved the venue; but on March 4 the brass made some
disheartening changes. They changed to a much smaller venue and
pulled financial support. Due to these unacceptable changes, the
Justin and his fellow organizers canceled the event. The military
has been slowly taken over by fundamentalist Christians. Chaplains
overstep their mission and proselytize rather than provide support
to the troops. The military has been requiring members to submit to
a "Spiritual Fitness Test," sending them the message that if they
don't believe then they are not full members of the services. Now,
instead of surrendering to the Christianists in the military, more
atheists and non-Christians are standing up to be counted among the
honorable men and women who serve our country in the military. The
Military Atheists and Secular Humanists (M.A.S.H.), Operation
Foxhole Atheist, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation , the
Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers and other groups
are bravely telling command that the military is a place for all
those who are willing to sacrifice. Justin is reorganizing Rock
Beyond Belief. Now it's on! He will be talking to about the event,
about Rock the Fort, about the move to end the unofficial policy of
"Don't Pray, Don't Say."