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Army probes soldiers skipping Christian concert
Yahoo ^ | Aug 20, 2010 | STEVE SZKOTAK

Posted on 08/21/2010 4:32:22 AM PDT by tlb

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.

Col. Thomas Collins said the military shouldn't impose religious views on soldiers.

"..it would be contrary to Army policy,".

Pvt. Anthony Smith said he and other soldiers felt pressured to attendt.

"My whole issue was I don't need to be preached at," Smith said "That's not what I signed up for."

Christian rock group BarlowGirl played as part of the "Commanding General's Spiritual Fitness Concerts."

Smith said a staff sergeant told 200 men in their barracks they could either attend or remain in their barracks. Eighty to 100 decided not to attend, he said.

"Instead of being released to our personal time, we were locked down," Smith said. "It seemed very much like a punishment."

The Military Religious Freedom Foundation first reported on the Christian concert. The foundation said it was approached by soldiers who were punished for not attending.

The group's president, Mikey Weinstein, claims Christian-themed events are "ubiquitous" throughout the military, and he credited the soldiers for stepping forward.

"Whenever we see this egregious, unconstitutional religious tyranny our job is to fight it," he said.

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.

Smith said he went up the chain of command and traced the concert edict to a captain, who said he simply wanted to "show support for those kind of events that bring soldiers together."

While not accepting blame, the officer apologized to the soldiers who refused to attend the concert and said it was not his intent to proselytize.

"But once you get in there, you realize it's evangelization," Smith said.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: army; christianity; christians; concert; drivebymedia; evangelization; investigation; pravdamedia
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

Well Colonel, who looks a lot like Abe. We want soldiers who are strong in Body, Mind and Spirit. Listen to some of their music on YouTube, you just might like it, and I really think these guys didn’t know what they were missing. Some live music, some pretty girls and maybe a message that there have never heard before. Mans greatest need, is to find out what his greatest need is. This is truly a missed opportunity. Skipping this, to clean the barracks? Never.


21 posted on 08/21/2010 8:09:39 AM PDT by Colorado Cowgirl (God bless America!)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

‘Worship isn’t entertainment.’

Does that mean that Mozart’s Masses aren’t worship or they aren’t entertainment?


22 posted on 08/21/2010 8:39:37 AM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla ('“Our own government has become our enemy' - Sheriff Paul Babeu)
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla
Does that mean that Mozart’s Masses aren’t worship or they aren’t entertainment?

Not in the New Testament sense. Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16 teach that the worship must include a mutual teaching among the believers. We need to avoid the performer-audience relationship in worship.

23 posted on 08/21/2010 8:46:23 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla

It always interests me to see who agrees with Michal.


24 posted on 08/21/2010 8:47:54 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If Bam is the answer, the question was stupid.)
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To: tlb
1. This kind of relig-O-tainment often has nothing to do with the Gospel.

2. The use of military authority to punish those don't believe in such relig-O-tainment is COERCION.

3. "I HAVE SWORN UPON THE ALTAR OF GOD ETERNAL HOSTILITY TO EVERY FORM OF TYRANNY OVER THE MIND OF MAN"
--Thomas Jefferson





It's a Secular Republic - not a Theocratic Empire.
Read the writing on the wall and deal with it.
25 posted on 08/21/2010 9:07:17 AM PDT by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an Acorn!)
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To: LomanBill

See Post 4.


26 posted on 08/21/2010 9:13:05 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If Bam is the answer, the question was stupid.)
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More of the story here: http://www.truth-out.org/troops-punished-after-refusing-attend-evangelical-concert62504
27 posted on 08/21/2010 9:43:04 AM PDT by adamjefferson
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To: trisham; xzins

The publicity is the doing of Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Same guy who led the charge on the Trijicon rifle scopes that had Bible verse references embedded in the s/n.


28 posted on 08/21/2010 9:45:00 AM PDT by Ready4Freddy (Am working on plans for a Knights Templar Community Center next to the Kaaba in Mecca.)
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To: adamjefferson

Isn’t “truth out” as lefty as one can get?


29 posted on 08/21/2010 9:50:15 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If Bam is the answer, the question was stupid.)
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To: DJ MacWoW
See the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom - about which Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence had to say:
 
"Where the preamble declares, that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion, an amendment was proposed by inserting "Jesus Christ," so that it would read "A departure from the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion;" the insertion was rejected by the great majority, in proof that they meant to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mohammedan, the Hindoo and Infidel of every denomination."
-Thomas Jefferson, Autobiography, in reference to the Virginia Act for Religious Freedom
 
http://www.history1700s.com/etext/html/texts/jefferson/jeff1.txt
 
"The insertion [of Jesus Christ] was rejected by the great majority..."  -- Why?
 
John 14:6
 "Jesus answered I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
NIV
 
If that is the Truth, then shouldn't it be self-evident to Individuals for whom 'ALMIGHTY GOD HATH CREATED THE MIND FREE"?
 
Jefferson and the rest of our American founders evidently believed the self-evident Truth was best perceived via the eyes and FREE mind of the Individual - and not via collective government / military / religionist coercion.

30 posted on 08/21/2010 10:00:57 AM PDT by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an Acorn!)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

‘Not in the New Testament sense.’

I’m sorry, I do not often hear that a Catholic Mass is not a form of worship.


31 posted on 08/21/2010 10:04:01 AM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla ('“Our own government has become our enemy' - Sheriff Paul Babeu)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

‘Not in the New Testament sense.’

I’m sorry, I do not often hear that a Catholic Mass is not a form of worship.


32 posted on 08/21/2010 10:04:01 AM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla ('“Our own government has become our enemy' - Sheriff Paul Babeu)
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To: Colonel Kangaroo

‘Not in the New Testament sense.’

I’m sorry, I do not often hear that a Catholic Mass is not a form of worship.


33 posted on 08/21/2010 10:04:01 AM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla ('“Our own government has become our enemy' - Sheriff Paul Babeu)
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To: Lucius Cornelius Sulla

Oops!


34 posted on 08/21/2010 10:04:44 AM PDT by Lucius Cornelius Sulla ('“Our own government has become our enemy' - Sheriff Paul Babeu)
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To: LomanBill
And yet our Founders wrote what's in post 4. Btw, the site it is located at is the Library of Congress. And Jefferson didn't build this country alone.

Religion and the Congress of the Confederation, 1774-89

The Continental-Confederation Congress, a legislative body that governed the United States from 1774 to 1789, contained an extraordinary number of deeply religious men. The amount of energy that Congress invested in encouraging the practice of religion in the new nation exceeded that expended by any subsequent American national government. Although the Articles of Confederation did not officially authorize Congress to concern itself with religion, the citizenry did not object to such activities. This lack of objection suggests that both the legislators and the public considered it appropriate for the national government to promote a nondenominational, nonpolemical Christianity.

Congress appointed chaplains for itself and the armed forces, sponsored the publication of a Bible, imposed Christian morality on the armed forces, and granted public lands to promote Christianity among the Indians.

Gotta go. Have things to do.

35 posted on 08/21/2010 10:07:48 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If Bam is the answer, the question was stupid.)
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To: DJ MacWoW
WoW?
"God wants insurance, god needs to cover himself..."??
--Roger Waters, "What god wants" - Amused to Death.
 
Twinkle Twinkle, Morning Star
 
Homage to Stanley Kubrick's 2001 - A Space Odyssey.
Sans the Eclipse, of course.
Prometheus, Lucifer,
Morning Star,
Sun
 
WoW
!

No Sale.

36 posted on 08/21/2010 10:08:52 AM PDT by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an Acorn!)
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To: DJ MacWoW

>>imposed Christian morality on the armed forces,

Just like the “church” of England?

No Sale.


37 posted on 08/21/2010 10:11:39 AM PDT by LomanBill (Animals! The DemocRats blew up the windmill with an Acorn!)
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To: xzins

I’m not a Chaplain, but I agree...I never saw anything like this in 25 years. At OTS, they did give the choice of going to chapel or staying in the barracks, so most everyone went to the church...and slept. The guys who didn’t go were also able to sleep or do laundry, etc - but most wanted to leave the barracks. But that was OTS - they also measured our underwear to make sure they were folded in 3” x 3” squares...


38 posted on 08/21/2010 10:14:41 AM PDT by Mr Rogers (When the ass brays, don't reply...)
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To: LomanBill
Fortunately you weren't a Founding Father. They did what they did without your approval. And you can't change history. People can lie about it or ignore it but they can't change it.

You may find this interesting.

Proposed Seal for the United States

On July 4, 1776, Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams "to bring in a device for a seal for the United States of America." Franklin's proposal adapted the biblical story of the parting of the Red Sea (left). Jefferson first recommended the "Children of Israel in the Wilderness, led by a Cloud by Day, and a Pillar of Fire by night. . . ." He then embraced Franklin's proposal and rewrote it (right). Jefferson's revision of Franklin's proposal was presented by the committee to Congress on August 20. Although not accepted these drafts reveal the religious temper of the Revolutionary period. Franklin and Jefferson were among the most theologically liberal of the Founders, yet they used biblical imagery for this important task.


"Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God."

I have work to do. Later.

39 posted on 08/21/2010 10:22:01 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If Bam is the answer, the question was stupid.)
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To: LomanBill
Just like the “church” of England?

Misrepresentation. The Church of England was a denomination not Christianity in it's purest form. The Founders sponsored no denomination. Only Christianity.

Ta ta.

40 posted on 08/21/2010 10:23:59 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If Bam is the answer, the question was stupid.)
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