Over the weekend I wrote about an incident at nearby Fort Eustis in Newport News, Virginia where service members reportedly were punish and confined to barracks when they refused to attend a Christian proselytizing event under the guise of a "Commanding General's Spiritual Fitness Concert." It turns out that this event - and apparently others - was the brain child of born-again Christian Gen. James E. Chambers (pictured at right). Headlining such events are acts like BarlowGirl - which charge tens of thousands of dollars - and researchers with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation ("MRFF") have discovered that the Department of Defense has awarded multi-million dollar contracts for consultants behind spiritual fitness events, the vast majority of which are evangelical Christian-based. Belatedly, the Pentagon is reported to be investigation these outrages. With Defense Secretary Gates proposing the elimination of commands - and often many civilian jobs associated with them, it is unconscionable that Christianists like General Chambers are squandering tax dollars on Christian proselytizing. Such event clearly are improper and forced attendance tramples the religious freedom of service members. Chambers needs to be relieved from his command and hopefully subjected to a court martial and forced resignation. Here are highlights from Truthout on the disturbing situation and supposed Pentagon investigation:*
The Commanding General's Spiritual Fitness Concert that Smith and others were told to attend was headlined by BarlowGirl, a "band of 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," according to the group's web site.
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The group Smith marched with included at least two Muslim soldiers who fell out of rank and stopped marching on their own, according to a first-hand account published by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).
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The concert was part of a series of "spiritual fitness" music events at Fort Eustis and nearby Fort Lee instituted by born-again Christian Gen. James E. Chambers, according to an article on the Army's web site. "They call them 'spiritual' events, but the vast majority of spiritual events are Christian-based," Smith said. Smith said that the events often involve Bible readings and testimonies from evangelicals.
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The Military Reigious Freedom Foundation and TruthOut have confirmed that $23,000 was paid to the BarlowGirls for the Fort Eustis concert. It also confirms that General Chambers is behind the proselytizing effort and that efforts were made to silence the complaining servicemembers. Of course, the obvious question is what in the Hell is the U.S. military doing funding events like this one? Here are highlights of these details:
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There's evidence to support that accusation. According to USASpending.gov, the Department of Defense (DoD) paid the BarlowGirl's talent agency, Greg Oliver Agency, $23,000 to perform. Vince Barlow, the band's manager and father, confirmed his daughters were paid that amount for two shows, one at Fort Eustis and the other at nearby Fort Lee.
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The brainchild of Maj. Gen. Chambers, the Commanding General's Spiritual Fitness Concert series was created at Fort Eustis when he was the commanding general there. In June 2008, Chambers brought the Christian concert series to Fort Lee, when he became its commanding general.
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There isn't much doubt that the concert series promotes religious belief. Chambers admitted as much to Fort Lee Public Affairs. "The idea is not to be a proponent for any one religion," he said. "It's to have a mix of different performers with different religious backgrounds."
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But Smith says he hasn't heard of any act performing who wasn't Christian. "I never once heard of a Muslim event or an atheist event," he said. "The vast majority of them have to be Christian events."
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According to MRFF, the DoD has spent at least $300,000 on Christian musical acts for these events. For instance, since 2008, the DoD has paid $125,000 to the Street Level Artists Agency, which describes its mission as "Christian radicals ... bringing the Gospel into the rock 'n roll vernacular of the common man," for performances at Forts Eustis and Lee since 2008, according to records on USASpending.gov. The agency represents Christian performers like David Phelps and Phil Keaggy, both of whom have played the concert series.
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On the morning before a concert performance at Fort Lee, Congressman J. Randy Forbes (R-Virginia) joined Chambers at a national prayer breakfast. Forbes addressed the attendees and was effusive in his praise for Chambers. "General, you have thanked a lot of people today, and I just want to thank you," he said according to the Fort Lee Traveler. "I want to thank you because in a world where it is so easy to back away from one's faith you have shown not only the courage to train and equip our Army to fight and defend freedom but to stand for faith across America."
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"MRFF has one simple message to our Commander in Chief and the Pentagon he controls," Weinstein said. "Show the world that we still have the noble capacity to be the Good Guys; subject Ft. Eustis Commander, Maj Gen Chambers to immediate trial by general courts martial for his blatant violations of the most foundational rubrics of the oath he swore to the United States Constitution."
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Frankly, I am not surprised to see that my law school classmate, Congressman Randy Forbes, was kissing Gen. Chambers' ass. I'm not sure where or when it happened, but I'd swear someone abducted Forbes and subjected him to a "Stepford Wife" like treatment that turned him into a religious extremist nut case.
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