Onward Christian Soldiers

[Pearly Di]

[OT]Can we get a discussion on Praise Music elsewhere as I'm pretty interested in it. Despite a lot of it being very very bad, there are some gems in there and those are the ones I'm interested in![/OT]

What Al -- and Lali -- said.

For the record, I have never liked 'Onward Christian Soldiers'. Neither the awful tune nor the words.

As V pointed out, the difficulty is that this sort of behavior already does violate the armed forces' official policy, so it's very difficult for officials to address it.

Which is what?

Needless to say, I am opposed to anyone being 'punished' for not attending a 'Christian rock concert'.

[Padme]

So the 1st Amendment only applies to Christianity?

[Voronwë the Faithful]

What would possibly make you say that, Padme?

[Primula Baggins]

The incident in question involved Christians, but surely there would be just as much of a controversy if members of another religion had done a similar thing.

[Dave_LF]

I suspect there would be much more controversy in that case. Especially if the religion in question were (horror) Islam.

[JewelSong]

I think it has to do with majority. If "almost everyone" is of a certain religion or culture, it seems like a natural thing to sort of expect that "everyone" will attend the concert or the service or whatever.

It seems harmless to simply "encourage" people to attend. And, if you are a member of a religion that strives to convince others to join the ranks (so to speak) it may seem like it is your spiritual duty to do everything possible to persuade people to participate in an activity that will help them decide to get on board.

One of my brothers once mentioned that even though he didn't like the tactics of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, he understood what they were trying to do because at least they were "bringing people to Jesus." (I think said brother has changed his tune...I hope!) In other words, the ends justify the means. If your overall goal is to "save as many souls as possible" then a little coercion to go see a movie or a concert might be warranted.

In one of the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, she describes a revival meeting. Laura hated them, she thought prayer should be a private thing and she didn't like the spectacle. But when she mentioned that she wasn't going to go, her friends were horrified. "People who don't go to revival meetings are atheists!" The public pressure to participate was very great.

I suspect that this might be similar to what happened in the stories described above. If you are in the 10% who are not Christian, or even if you are Christian but would rather spend your evening reading a book or catching up on your email...the pressure could be very strong to attend. And in the armed forces, where community is everything, where you need to be able to rely on your mates...it could be very divisive if the majority of people - including the higher level officers - were all members of a certain
group. And it could be very difficult to refuse to participate, even if technically, it was "optional."

As a Christian myself, I would find such pressure abhorrent and would be one of the people who stayed reading in my tent. I also question whether concerts of a specific religious bent belong on a US Armed Forces base at all.

[Cenedril_Gildinaur]

The part that appalls me is the abuse of rank. Yes, religious music tends to be sub-par, but punishing those who do not freely go to this? At least in Basic Training they gave us a complete round of choices, including one at all, for your religious preferences.

I'm surprised this went on as long as it did. Had I been in that company, when ordered to stay in the barracks under duty I would insist that the order be in writing so I can show it to IG and EEO. They would know exactly what I mean by that, too, an realize immediately that they had crossed a line or two.

Given the all volunteer status of our military, in some ways it is a lot easier to push everyone around. But there is the occasional person determined to put up a fuss and be right at the same time.

[vison]

Somehow I'm not surprised that you would. But good for you. There aren't enough men who rock the boat in this world.

[WampusCat]

I am reminded of my father's approach to mandatory daily chapel at the Baptist college he attended. He had no intention of attending chapel services, so he stated on his official registration forms that he was Buddhist and thus not required to go. I don't believe he ever mentioned this to his father, who was a Christian preacher.

[Lalaith]

[ot] I can definitely contribute more to a praise music discussion than I can to this. If the situation is just as it was stated in this article, then I think it was wrong. However, I still wouldn't be surprised if there was more to it. Honestly. I tend to find that the truth is somewhere in the middle of where each side says. [/ot]

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Regarding the question of splitting the discussion about praise music into a separate thread, I've looked at and concluded that it would be too difficult to split it, as many of the posts that discusss that subject also discuss the main subject of the thread. Sorry about that!

[Primula Baggins]

But certainly a thread like that could be started.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Of course!

[Lalaith]

I wondered if it'd be too difficult to split the posts. No problem! Like you all said, we can start the thread.

<rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock!>

[Primula Baggins]

Interesting variation. . . .

[Lalaith]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kov2G0GouBw

[Primula Baggins]

[Lalaith]

(I The Big Bang Theory. Awesome, awesome show!)

[Inanna]

( I love Big Bang Theory too!)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Um .... (I presume I don't need to say the rest of the sentence)