Atheists, Agnostics Hold Festival for First Time on Military Base By Anugrah Kumar

The U.S. military hosted an event meant specifically for atheist and agnostic soldiers for the first time Saturday on the grounds of a large Army base in North Carolina.

“Rock Beyond Belief,” an event featuring secular speakers and musicians, was held on the main parade ground at the Fort Bragg military base. It was modeled after the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association‘s “Rock the Fort” evangelistic event that was held at the same venue in 2010.

“I love the military,” The Associated Press quoted Sgt. Justin Griffith, main organizer of the event and the military director of American Atheists, as saying. “This is not meant to be a black eye.”

The organizers claim on the event’s website that they are not interested in being a counter-event to the “offensive” “Rock the Fort” concert, or in putting on an anti-Christian, anti-religious event. “Rock Beyond Belief” is a day of fun and entertainment, they say.

Griffith had invited Christian soldiers to the event, and had said a free barbecue meal would be provided to the first 1,000 Department of Defense cardholders.

Atheist and agnostic soldiers at Fort Bragg have been pushing for gaining recognition as a faith group that would have the right to hold meetings inside the facilities. And Saturday’s concert, attended by a few hundred people, was also aimed at making a case for that demand.

Prominent British atheist Richard Dawkins was a speaker. “We’re never antagonistic toward religious believers, we’re antagonistic toward religious belief,” he claimed. “There is no good, honest reason to believe in a god or gods of any kind, or indeed in anything supernatural. The only reason to believe something is that you have evidence for it.

“We got any Darwin fans in the house?” asked Baba Brinkman, a rapper, before launching into a song about evolutionary biology.

The Delaware-based Stiefel Freethought Foundation, which promotes and supports the free thought movement, had donated $70,000 for the event. Its founder Todd Stiefel was quoted as saying that the Army should not host events like Saturday’s concert and the BGEA-sponsored event that prompted it. “I would like this to be the last one of these events.”

Garrison Commander Col. Stephen Sicinski at Fort Bragg said the hosting of “Rock the Fort” was a non-issue. “We don’t treat soldiers who are atheists as atheists, we treat them as soldiers,” he said. “They’re soldiers first.”

The post commander had earlier refused to allow the festival to be held on the main parade field. Griffith had to cancel the event scheduled for April 2 last year. However, with the backing of groups working for church-state separation, Griffith complained to the Secretary of the Army that the fort was discriminating against certain religious groups. Cooperation was pledged as a result.

“This just might be the turning point in the foxhole atheist community’s struggle for acceptance, tolerance and respect,” Griffith said after the permission to hold the event was granted last August. “It’s an amazing time to be a nonbeliever in the U.S. military on the cusp of a major breakthrough.”

Jason Torpy, president of the Military Association of Atheists & Freethinkers, told The Christian Post in an earlier interview that it’s important to understand the background of how the atheist event came about. The festival was conceived as reaction to the Billy Graham’s event, which received some manpower and financial support from the base command at the request of some chaplains.

Griffith and atheist groups objected to it, alleging it was an army-sponsored platform to seek converts.

Retired Navy Chaplain James Klingenschmitt earlier told The Christian Post that when the Billy Graham event was held atheists threatened lawsuits, wrongly arguing that an “evangelistic rally” jointly sponsored by U.S. military personnel and evangelical Christian churches and ministries violates the U.S. Constitution and must be canceled.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/atheists-agnostics-hold-festival-for-first-time-on-military-base-72431/

Obama Opposes NC Amendment Banning Gay Marriage By Paul Stanley

President Obama appears to be moving away from his 2009 stance of opposing gay marriage. He is opposing a proposed constitutional amendment in North Carolina that would define marriage as between one man and one woman.

“While the president does not weigh in on every single ballot measure in every state, the record is clear that the President has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same-sex couples,” said Obama’s North Carolina spokesperson, Cameron French, last Friday.

“That’s what the North Carolina ballot initiative would do – it would single out and discriminate against committed gay and lesbian couples – and that’s why the President does not support it.”

Obama’s current position on gay marriage seems to have taken a series of 180-degree turns since he embarked on his public service career in the 1990s.

In a 1996 letter to a homosexual publication in Chicago, then State Senate candidate Barrack Obama gave an affirmative response to a question on same-sex marriage.

“6) I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages.”

As a sitting Illinois State Senator in 1998, Obama responded to another question asking if the state should recognize same-sex marriages. “Undecided,” was his checked response.

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 In a 2008 interview with MTV, then U.S. Senator Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate stated he was opposed to same-sex marriage.

“I believe that marriage is between a man and woman and I am not in favor of gay marriage.”

David Axelrod, a former White House advisor and now Obama campaign strategist, told MSNBC in 2010 that Obama “does oppose same-sex marriage, but he supports equality for gay and lesbian couples … He supports civil unions. That’s been his position throughout. So nothing has changed.”

The upcoming May 8 constitutional amendment vote in North Carolina is only the latest battle in an on-going turf war to redefine the boundaries of traditional marriage and prohibit the judicial branch from defining the issue for the citizens of a state.

The North Carolina amendment, more commonly known as Amendment 1, reads: “Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.”

Tami Fitzgerald who chairs Vote FOR Marriage NC – the coalition of groups supporting passage of the amendment – says judicial activism is one of the primary reasons they want the amendment passed.

“Not only did President Obama state during his election battle in 2008 that he believes marriage is the union between one man and woman, but he said that for him as a Christian, it is also a sacred union, invoking the name of ‘God’ as his source,” Fitzgerald said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, his recommendation against the Marriage Protection Amendment would leave the definition of marriage up to an activist judge instead of the people of our state,” she added. “President Obama has no business inserting himself into the people’s business in North Carolina. The people of North Carolina cannot sit by and let marriage as the union of one man and one woman be destroyed by a handful of political activists or by activists judges.”

According to two recent polls, the amendment is favored by a majority of the state’s voters.

A Public Policy Polling survey, known to favor Democrat voters, showed 54 percent of 780 registered voters supporting the amendment’s passage. The PPP survey was conducted in early January of this year.

Another Civitas poll conducted in late February of 600 likely voters had the amendment passing with 64 percent of the vote.

When marriage amendments of bills have been played before the voters over the past several years, they have passed 31 times in 31 states – a perfect record.

Besides North Carolina, Maryland and Minnesota will have same-sex marriage issues before their voters in 2012.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/obama-opposes-nc-amendment-banning-gay-marriage-71748/

North Carolina Only Southern State Lacking Marriage Amendment By Michael Gryboski

With the ongoing debate over marriage definition in the courts and through popular referendums, as of 2012 North Carolina is the only state in the South lacking a marriage amendment to its state constitution.

Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi passed popular referendums along with seven other states in November 2004. When voters in Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia approved amendments from 2005 to 2008, North Carolina found itself alone.

Tami Fitzgerald, chairwoman of Vote FOR Marriage NC, a pro-marriage amendment organization, told The Christian Post that the delay was due to the state’s General Assembly.

“The previous leadership of the North Carolina General Assembly kept the Marriage Protection Amendment bottled up in committee,” said Fitzgerald.

“[Their actions were] denying the people in our state the right to vote on this important issue and leaving marriage in our state vulnerable to being redefined by an activist judge.”

Fitzgerald also said that while North Carolina state law does currently define marriage as being between one man and one woman, without a constitutional amendment this law is vulnerable to political activism.

“These statutes can be easily overturned by the courts or changed by the General Assembly, radically redefining marriage as genderless or worse,” said Fitzgerald. “We must preserve marriage in our state constitution to protect marriage from radical activists who are willing to do everything in their power to change marriage and make it genderless.”

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 In September 2011, the North Carolina General Assembly voted in favor of holding a statewide referendum on marriage definition. The referendum will be held on May 8, 2012, along with the state and presidential primaries.

According to a poll conducted by Public Policy Polling in January, 56 percent of North Carolina voters are in favor of the amendment and 34 percent opposed.

Dr. Billy McCormack, board of directors for the Christian Coalition of America, told CP that his organization had members in North Carolina that were active in helping the marriage amendment pass.

“The Christian Coalition has many members in North Carolina. They are working diligently in behalf of the amendment,” he said.

“The amendment referendum is far from pointless. It drives a stake down to reaffirm that North Carolina believes that marriage is a sacred institution and most necessary for an orderly and progressive society.”

McCormack felt that North Carolina being the last state in the South to consider a marriage amendment was part of the long history of the state having “a hard time making up its mind.”

“It is very conservative and very liberal. It is a dichotomy. It swings. Southeastern Baptist Seminary was once referred to as Southern Baptists‘ most liberal child,” said McCormack.

“When the southern states began to secede from the union, North Carolina was one of the last to do so … North Carolina has a history of taking time to make up its mind. So it is with the marriage amendment.”

The Coalition to Protect NC Families, the organization campaigning against the marriage amendment, did not return comment by press time.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/north-carolina-only-southern-state-lacking-marriage-amendment-72279/