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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>This is shameful, but hardly
surprising</STRONG>. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Given the enormous swing to the religious right in
the US, the military will be heavily inhabited by those who espouse
Fundamentalist views. The military has long been using training videos which are
odious in their portrayal of non-Christians as the "<EM>enemy";</EM> forced
prayer is not uncommon, and Muslims, Athiests, Wiccans, and Buddhists have all
been targeted in some units for being <U>"un-American</U>". <EM>Don't Ask Don't
Tell</EM> may be repealed someday, but the beat goes on. Some group
<STRONG>must</STRONG> be the "outsiders", and the military always
uses this in order to utilize it as the(outdated) means of gaining loyalty
in the ranks.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>When a nation which was founded to counter enforced
religion then begins to enforce religion through its military, we have a serious
problem. Of course, this is likely to go unaddressed as the Glen Becks, Sarah
Palins, and Rush Limbaughs continue unchallenged to spew their vilification of
anyone who is not white, born again, and wealthy. Unless the "left" gets off
their collective duffs and begins to fight back, this country is on its merry
way to becoming a theocracy..........</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Debi R-S</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=thansen@moscow.com href="mailto:thansen@moscow.com">Tom Hansen</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">Moscow Vision 2020</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, August 30, 2010 5:32
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Vision2020] Soldiers Allege
Punishment Over Christian Concert</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=WordSection1>
<P class=MsoNormal>Courtesy of the Army Times at:<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><A
href="http://www.ArmyTimes.com">http://www.ArmyTimes.com</A><o:p></o:p></P>
<DIV
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid; mso-element: para-border-div">
<P class=MsoNormal
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<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=maintitle1><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Soldiers allege punishment over Christian
concert</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN class=subtitle1> </SPAN><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><BR><BR><SPAN class=subtitle1>Army
officials launch inquiry</SPAN></SPAN></B><BR><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><BR><SPAN
class=abody2>The Army is investigating alle­gations that soldiers were
pres­sured to attend a Christian con­cert — and punished when they
refused.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>Pvt. Anthony Smith says he was one
of 80 soldiers in Advanced Individual Training at Fort Eustis, Va., who were
punished for opting not to attend a Christian rock con­cert on post. The
soldiers were confined to their barracks, ordered to clean and were barred
from using cell phones and other elec­tronics, according to Smith and
another soldier who has asked to remain anonymous.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN
class=abody2>The Army is conducting an investigation into the incident,
ordered by Lt. Gen. John E. “Jack” Sterling, Training and Doctrine Command
chief of staff, TRADOC spokesman Harvey Perritt said. Perritt and a Fort
Eustis spokesman declined to offer details while the investigation
continues.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>Col. Thomas Collins, an Army
spokesman at the Pentagon, said the military should not impose religious views
on soldiers.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>“It’s not a problem to hold a
Christian rock concert on an Army post; it’s a problem if soldiers who didn’t
want to attend were com­pelled to attend or feel punished for not
attending,” he said. “That is not consistent with Army poli­cy.” Smith
said he believes his spiri­tual life should remain
private.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>“The religion thing being shoved
down my throat is really something that doesn’t work for me,” said Smith, now
in Arizona with the 640th Aviation Support Battalion. “As far as what I
believe, I believe there’s some­thing out there, but it’s a really
personal thing with me. If I have a relationship with God or that entity, it
is not anybody’s busi­ness, ever.” BarlowGirl, the Christian rock­ers
who played at Eustis as part of a Commanding General’s Spiritu­al Fitness
Concert Series, describe themselves on their website as “tender-hearted,
beautiful young women who aren’t afraid to take an aggressive, almost
warrior-like stance when it comes to spreading the gospel and serving God.”
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is readying a federal lawsuit,
according to its founder, Mikey Weinstein. He blasted the commander who
originated the concerts as a “walking neon sign of Defense
Department-sanctioned, ignominious fundamentalist Christian supremacy and
excep­tionalism.” On the evening of May 13, Smith was with A Company, 1st
Battalion, 222nd Aviation Regi­ment, which was in training at the Army
Aviation Logistics School. The student leader and the duty noncommissioned
officer, a first sergeant, assembled the company in formation and marched it
to the mess hall for dinner. After dinner, the unit was marched to the parking
lot just outside the concert venue.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>“As soon
as they told us we were marching to chow because we were going to this concert
togeth­er, people started to f---ing freak out, people started to get
angry,” Smith said. “There were several Muslims in the company, and
peo­ple started getting upset right away.” Smith said A Company appeared
to be the only group entering the concert as a unit.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN
class=abody2>Outside the venue, the troops were asked to split into two
groups, those attending and those who would not. Smith and the oth­ers who
opted out were marched to the barracks, where they were placed on “lockdown,”
their activi­ties were restricted until the con­cert
ended.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>“Anybody in the military will tell you
that lockdown is a form of punishment,” Smith said. “When we don’t want to go
to this concert and we’re not allowed to use our laptops or our cell phones or
music, we’re not allowed to be sit­ting in our beds — that’s a form of
punishment.” Smith and eight other soldiers attempted to file a complaint with
a succession of Equal Opportunity officials in their chain of
com­mand.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>Smith said as he went through
the ranks, each official tried to dis­suade him from filing a formal
complaint, and all but one of the soldiers who first complained with him
backed off.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>Smith said he spoke with the
company commander, who told him he took responsibility for directing the first
sergeant to send the unit to the concert.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN
class=abody2>Smith and the other soldier, who asked not to be identified, said
they would be willing to join the planned federal lawsuit. Neither said they
want to see soldiers pun­ished; Smith said he wants sol­diers to “know
and understand” why he and the other soldiers were
wronged.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>“I want to help other people; I
don’t think that anyone should have to feel this,” Smith said. “I think that
somebody should look into these spiritual fitness events because I’m pretty
sure all of them are Christian. I guarantee I can’t go to an Army base and see
a Mus­lim rock concert described as spir­itual fitness.” Both soldiers
said the incident has changed their view of the Army and the country. The
soldier speaking anonymously about the incident said he fears people who are
irreligious by choice are no longer tolerated.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN
class=abody2>“We have mob rule, where it is purely Christian in every
direc­tion,” he said. “For someone like me, you feel surrounded.” Brig.
Gen. Brian R. Layer, who was the commanding general of the Army Transportation
School at Fort Eustis during the May inci­dent, inherited the spiritual
fit­ness concert series from Maj. Gen. James E. Chambers. A professed
born-again Christian, Chambers went on to Fort Lee, Va., and in April became
director for logistics at Central Command, MacDill Air Force Base,
Fla.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>As head of Army Combined Arms Support
Command at Fort Lee, Chambers duplicated the series, telling a post newspaper
in 2008, “The idea is not to be a pro­ponent for any one religion ... It’s
to have a mix of different perform­ers with different backgrounds.”
Between 2007 and 2009, the Army paid $125,000 to a booking agency for
Christian performers for events at Fort Lee and Fort Eustis, according to <A
href="http://USAspend­ing.gov">USAspend­ing.gov</A>, a searchable
database of federal spending. The contractor was Indiana-based Street Level
Artist Agency.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>Several performers who were
publicized in the post newspaper and played at Eustis in recent months all
advertised themselves as conveying a Christian message: Mark Schultz, Josh
Wilson, the Micah Watson Band, Brandishing Steel, True Liberty, Alathea, Phil
Keaggy, SonicFlood and Barlow-Girl.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>Lauren
Barlow, a band member, said in her Twitter feed Aug. 21 that the band “knew
nothing at all about soldiers being forced to go to our show.” A federal
lawsuit by Military Religious Freedom Foundation would be the third in a
series it has undertaken against the Army over the last few years. The two
prior lawsuits, which took aim at alleged proselytizing by members of the
armed forces, were dismissed.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>In January, a
federal judge in Kansas dismissed Spc. Dustin Chalker and the foundation’s
law­suit against the Defense Depart­ment, ruling Chalker failed to
exhaust all available remedies before filing suit.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN
class=abody2>Chalker claimed his rights were violated when he was compelled to
attend military events at Fort Riley, Kan., where prayers were made without
regard to his status as an atheist.</SPAN><BR><BR><SPAN class=abody2>Also in
2008, a voluntary dis­missal was filed in a federal law­suit in which
Spc. Jeremy Hall alleged he was harassed and dis­criminated against
because he is an atheist.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=abody2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>------------------<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=abody2><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt">The
Christian rock band BarlowGirl was performing in concert at Fort Eustis, Va.,
when some soldiers protested that they were punished for deciding not to
attend.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=abody2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 9.5pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><IMG id=Picture_x0020_0 height=397
alt=ChristianBand_BarlowGirl.jpg
src="cid:649EC2FD0F0D4CA4AA79ACA6A38A0BCA@OwnerPC" width=584
border=0><o:p></o:p></P>
<DIV
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 1pt; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid; mso-element: para-border-div">
<P class=MsoNormal
style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none"><o:p> </o:p></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>In my twenty years of Army service I had never experienced
anything even remotely similar to this allegation.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>But then I retired back in 1989, long before enlistment
criteria was tragically weakened.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Seeya round town, Moscow.<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Tom Hansen<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Moscow, Idaho<o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">"Patriotism
is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady
dedication of a lifetime."<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'">-- Adlai E.
Stevenson, Jr.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P></DIV>
<P>
<HR>
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