Reverend Bhagavan Friend

Founder of 
The Religious Resistance
 

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RealPlayer Video of Reverend Friend defending the Redondo Beach City Christmas Tree.

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John Wayne reciting
The Pledge of Allegiance
And Its Meaning.

Member Articles

On Saturday, May 19, 2001 Reverend Friend read a number of articles on the Internet about an upcoming graduation ceremony at a High School in Washington, Illinois.  With the help of the ACLU, the family of Natasha Appenheimer, that year's valedictorian, sued the school district to prevent the inclusion of the invocation and benediction traditionally given at the school's commencement ceremony. A federal judge issued a restraining order days before the ceremony blocking any student led prayer.  According to the AP Article about the ceremony (see link at bottom), it was the first time in the 80-year history of the school in this Peoria suburb that no graduation prayers were going to be allowed. Click on the link below for one of the articles that Reverend Friend read.  http://archives.cnn.com/2001/fyi/teachers.ednews/05/18/school.prayer.ap/index.html

 There was no talk anywhere on the Internet, the radio or the news of any planned resistance to this restraining order.  It seemed that the students and community were resigned to the decision of the all mighty Court – and not the will of the All Mighty.

 With only one day to go before the scheduled graduation ceremony, Reverend Friend galvanized the Soldiers of The Light into immediate action.  He wrote an open letter to the Washington, Illinois community entitled “Defy Religious Repression”.  (Click here for Reverend Friend’s Open Letter.)  And under his leadership a small band of Soldiers of the Light went into action. We faxed and e-mailed Reverend Friend’s letter to every person involved that we could find.  We began calling every student mentioned in the Internet articles that had a published phone number. Reverend Friend left messages for the school Principal and Vice-Principal. We called every church that we could find in Washington, Illinois and spoke to their Ministers. 

(Click here for a copy of one of the e-mails Reverend Friend sent, to the President of Illinois Baptist College, Michael McCoskey. And click here for another e-mail sent by one of the Soldiers of The Light to a boy scout leader in the community with Reverend Friend’s Open Letter incorporated.)

Reverend Friend spoke directly with a number of the students mentioned in the Internet article, including Ryan Brown, who was scheduled to speak at the graduation ceremony.  Reverend Friend’s message echoed his Open Letter, “Defy Religious Repression.” The response was enthusiastic, but guarded.  The students, ministers and faculty had never thought of just outright defying Religious repression.  What would happen?  Reverend Friend reminded them of the early Christians, who had gone to the lions to uphold their Religious beliefs and convictions.  They asked him what they should do, and he told them what he would do:

"I would stand outside the Graduation Ceremony and Pray and Sing songs of Praise aloud. I might grab the microphone and give a Prayer while being wrestled to the ground.... But it is not my place to advise on these matters. Indeed, the highest of these is that we must each, individually and in harmony with one another, ASK GOD in Prayer to give us His Divine Guidance and HEAR what HE directs with an open and clear heart and mind. In this way, we can - as individuals, small groups, and Congregations formulate plans that are UNIFIED IN SPIRIT while diverse enough to fit our localities and keep the enemy who is assaulting us, off guard."

 For more on seeking God’s Divine Guidance Click here to read Reverend Friend’s e-book “When God Guides, God Provides.”

 Reverend Friend never advised them to disobey a court order – he encouraged them to uphold their First Amendment Right to Free Exercise of Religion. And he admonished them that good men and women have a duty to God and Country to stand up, peacefully, and willingly and joyously suffer whatever consequences may come from such Acts of Conscience. 

 In one day, Reverend Friend and four Soldiers of The Light, from our headquarters in Redondo Beach, California, had done all that we could to invoke a Religious Resistance in the community in Washington, Illinois (short of hopping on a plane, which Reverend Friend considered).

 Having done what God had Guided us to do, we surrendered the rest to God and waited in faith. 

The next evening while watching the Fox News Channel, I shouted to Reverend Friend, who was in another room, to come quick. There were showing a clip of a graduation ceremony. The kids on the television wore t-shirts with “God” printed on them.  On the top of their graduation caps they had sewn or printed the word GOD in big, bold letters. Huge crosses hung from many of their necks.  Defiance of Religious repression filled the auditorium.  The reporter announced that this was the scene at the commencement ceremony at Washington Community High School.  The Religious Resistance had begun.

 It was only much later that we discovered that news of this graduation ceremony had spread far and wide through the Internet and e-mail, creating a true “Urban Legend” about the entire event. And that Ryan had instrumented an inspired way to get God into his graduation speech.  As reported at snopes.com:

 “Yet it was the act of Ryan Brown, a member of the graduating class who was scheduled to give a speech during the event, that is now celebrated in the e-mail forward. As his form of protest, he had worked it out with a handful of friends that when he faked a sneeze at the podium, they were to cry out ‘God bless you.’ The plan was carried out as envisioned, with everyone who had been in on it playing their assigned parts. (Mr. Brown also made another protest on his way to the podium — he stopped to bow in silent prayer, an act that prompted the audience to stand and applaud. He replied to the crowd, ‘Don't applaud for me, applaud for God.’)”

Click the link below to read full Snopes.com validation of event. (Please note that the first part of the snopes story is an incorrect version of the events.  The correct and verified version follows that.)
 http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/sneeze.asp

 Reverend Friend and the Soldiers of The Light got no outward credit for this action.  No one, except for the people we called, faxed and e-mailed, and those who read this now, will ever know who inspired those kids at Washington Community High School to resist Religious Repression.  But, as with everything Reverend Friend does, he didn’t do it for the credit, but for the result, and for the onward march of Spiritual Freedom for all people that he and the Soldiers of The Light have pledged to work for and uphold.

 Click here to read the Associated Press article after the graduation ceremony:
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/fyi/teachers.ednews/05/21/graduation.prayer.ap/

 Though few will ever know the origins of this Religious Resistance, those of us who were there will never forget the day Reverend Friend led the Resistance to Victory over the Forces of Darkness that sought to repress Religious Freedom and suppress the good folks in Washington, Illinois.

 Victory to God The Beloved!

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Last modified: 01/14/08