For the past several years, two U.S. Army posts in Virginia, Fort Eustis and Fort Lee, have been putting on a series of what are called Commanding General's Spiritual Fitness Concerts. As I've written in a number of other posts, "spiritual fitness" is just the military's new term for promoting religion, particularly evangelical Christianity. And this concert series is no different. On May 13, 2010, about eighty soldiers, stationed at Fort Eustis while attending a training course, were punished for opting out of attending one of these Christian concerts. The headliner at this concert was a Christian rock band called BarlowGirl, a band that describes itself as taking "an aggressive, almost warrior-like stance when it comes to spreading the gospel and serving God." CONTINUED HERE
I friends in every branch, but my impression has been that it was most common in the Army. Most of my friends in the Airforce have described it as very "corporate," and I have an idea of what that means.
Army and Air Force are both pretty bad. Here's a good article from Jeff Sharlet on the subject: http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/05/0082488 .
Given the musical talent level of most Christian rockers, I would think that having to attend a Christian Rock Concert would itself be the punishment.
If I was still in the Military and I was told I had to go, I would volunteer to pick up cigarette butts for a month if that got me out of that concert. I wonder if only Christian soldiers are told they have to go?
Hahah... I'd be like "Can I attend a Gaga concert as an alternative?" Of course if I was in the military, I wouldn't be around too long because of another policy they have.
I'd rather John Kerry have warned kids about these little mandatory Christian pep rallies than the risks of getting shot or blown up on the front line because they didn't have the grades to be the decisionmakers. Anyhow, Roseanne has a point. I see the trend toward R&B-based gospel as a loophole for people to wiggle and dance when they know damn well they've been told not to. The feelings stirred from watching a woman dance are not "churchy", no matter what anyone says.
i'm not saying that Muse isn't a fine band. but they're derivative. if it weren't for Radiohead and Queen, Muse would sound different, RH for the textures, Queen for the "operatic" vibe. so, again: not ripping on Muse.