You may have heard by now that there was a Christian concert and evangelical extravaganza at Fort Bragg, NC, called Rock the Fort. It was sponsored Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and kinda crossed the line between entertainment and alter call.
Our friend and commentor japanther – who has never been photographed with SPC Justin Griffith – is trying to drum up support for a different sort of event to be called Rock Beyond Belief. According to the blog:
Rock Beyond Belief is an ambitious project that will be putting on a free festival consisting of secular speakers and musicians, both big name and small. We are a small grass-roots outfit, but we have the backing of many major secular and military foundations. Currently we are focusing on a large-scale event that will be on the main post parade field on Fort Bragg. Eventually Rock Beyond Belief wants to spread the message to many other military installations.
We are not interested in just being a counter-event to the offensive Rock the Fort concert. We are also not interested in putting on an anti-christian, anti-religious, or anti-anything event. Rock Beyond Belief is A Day of Fun and Entertainment for the Rest of Us.
Justin has a post up that provides some ways that you can help the cause. Most notably, if you’re one of the thousand of so facebook fans we have, you can transfer some of your enthusiasm to the Rock Beyond Belief facebook site. Anything you can do to to convince Fort Bragg’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation department that there’s a groundswell of support for this concert would be worthwhile.
I’m going to write to the Bragg CG, expressing my disappointment that military property was used for a religious event. Hosting a concert/conversion event is far beyond allowing servicemen to practice their religion on post. We can be sure that religious extremists around the world will be using the concert to prove that US forces have a religious agenda.
Here in VA, we’ve had Fort A.P. Hill host the Boy Scout Jamboree for many years, but they may be moving to facilities in W.VA. It sure would be great to have Camp Quest take their place!
The effect of these events on the bases that host them is debatable, participants tend not to patronize local merchants much, and of course there are extra law enforcement and maintenance costs.
Thanks for the shout out, Vorjack. The Army kept me busy all day today, and I didn’t even get a chance to comment on the article about the festival in time! Oh well, that’s the Army life. That bit about ‘not being photographed with SPC Justin Griffith’ was very clever. I see what you did there.
We are actually going to be announcing some pretty big names in the near future, but I’ve recently learned not to jump the gun with these types of announcements. Science loving atheists will be very happy with our lineup very soon. (:
Anyway, I’d like to re-extend my plea for all of your support. The most painless way to support the event is to simply ‘like’ us on Facebook .
If anyone happens to be near Fort Bragg and would like to help out, please contact me. The contact form on the website will go straight to me. Also, if you don’t live near Fort Bragg, and would still like to help out, we are putting together a dedicated ‘e-team’ to supplement our efforts.
We really love all of the amazing support from everyone. Your encouragement gives us the strength to do this.
-Japanther
Official SPC Justin Griffith / RBB photographer (;
FYI, I posted a follow up / reply on the Rock Beyond Belief website.
P.S.
Vorjack IS European right?