I received a google alert about this a few days ago and dismissed it as "there is no way Flurry is getting the Air Force to do a military fly over." It was also based upon the long standing pacifist attitude of Armstrongism.
Today I received an email from Jace at the Armstrong Delusion Blog. He gave permission to post his letter to The Edmond Sun newspaper that originally published the story (below letter).
Hello,
I am writing in response to an article you published on your website on June 28th of this year, regarding an F-16 flyover of the Armstrong Auditorium. Here is a link, for sake of convenience.
Via your article, I was shocked and dismayed to learn that the Philadelphia Church of God, the group behind "Armstrong Auditorium" was somehow able to arrange a flyover of their campus.
I find this to be most distressing, for several reasons. First, the church is considered by many, to be a doomsday cult. It's beliefs and policies have damaged numerous families, including my own. It's "no-contact" policy is especially vicious. I was raised in this group and cannot even begin to express the level of damage it inflicted upon my life. The group believes, as did Herbert Armstrong (the auditorium's namesake) that the end is very near, and that the USA will soon fall.
To that end, the PCG and other armstrongite groups have been preaching a steady message of anti-American rhetoric. In fact, I wrote an article about it earlier this year, that links to fifteen separate articles published by the PCG that reek of anti-Americanism. Here is my article if you'd like to check the facts for yourselves.
The real story you should be publishing, is not that the PCG was able to arrange this flyover, but, how they were able to. Doesn't the Pentagon have a vetting process in place to stop this sort of thing from happening? Does this flyover not represent a clear fracture in the separation of church and state? The citizens of Edmond - and all Americans - have a right to know why their tax dollars are being spent on promoting a religious cult. Are we not in a recession? How many thousands of dollars did this flyover cost the taxpayers? And all to benefit a group who believes that military service is wrong, and who's members are forbidden (among many, many other things) from serving in the military in the first place?
Please, ask the hard questions. Investigate this group. It's simply the right thing to do.
Thank you for your time.
F-16s to launch Armstrong Auditorium Independence Day celebration
EDMOND — Armstrong Auditorium’s 2011-12 performing arts series will kick off July 3 with the screaming thunder of F-16s from the 138th Fighter Wing of the Oklahoma Air National Guard. According to OANG’s Capt. Chris Wells, the 138th will perform the maneuver at 7:20 p.m. when four F-16 Fighting Falcons fly over the campus of Herbert W. Armstrong College at Bryant and Waterloo in north Edmond.
Armstrong’s marketing director Shane Granger said he received confirmation of the fly-over from the Pentagon on Saturday.
“We’re thrilled to have such a distinguished fighter wing from Oklahoma as part of our Independence Day celebrations at Armstrong,” he said.
Following the aerial maneuver, Armstrong’s special July 3 concert by Grammy-winning fiddler Mark O’Connor’s American String Celebration will begin at 7:30 p.m. inside the Armstrong theater. The concert, according to Granger, was originally scheduled as an outdoor event but was moved indoors where air conditioning and superior acoustics will make a more pleasant environment.
Granger said tickets for the event have been selling quickly. “We still have some good seats left and we hope families will take advantage of this outstanding opportunity to see such a phenomenal musical group.” He said. “The fly-over is just the icing on the cake!”
Tickets are available at www.ArmstrongAuditorium.org or by calling 285-1010.
Check out Jace's article here about this issue: Praying for Failure? – Armstrongism’s Love/Hate Relationship with America
How does Armstrongism factor into this equation? For the past few decades, HWA and crew have consistently spoken out against the “moral decay” they believe is taking place in America. While the rhetoric of Armstrongism is tame compared to the examples above, it is no less damaging to those who believe it. Admittedly, Armsrongite rhetoric more closely resembles that of Pat Robertson and (the late) Jerry Falwell. But, where one could argue that Robertson and Falwell were speaking out against perceived changes in American culture and not against America itself, it is slightly more difficult to make that distinction for Armstrongism. For a perfect example of this, let us look to our favorite Armstrongite publication: The Philadelphia Trumpet. A quick read through a spate of recent articles (and indeed, many past ones) paints a picture of a group that is seemingly chomping at the bit to see America fail. Perhaps I’m wrong, I’ll let you decide.
