Military Strips Bibles From 'Christian Terrorists'

In their continued battle against Christians, atheists of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) forced the removal of Bibles from memorial displays in VA hospitals and other military installations in recent months.  However, the MRFF's newest leader ran from the battle as he compared Bible-believing Christians to Muslim terrorists.

"I cannot believe I deployed five times to fight radical Islamists overseas only to come home, voice my opinion, and be attacked by radical Christians."
-- Capt. Jordan Ray, retired Army atheist

For background, read President Obama Compares Christians to Islamic Terrorists

Click headlines below to read previous articles:

President Obama's VA Strips Jesus & Bible from Chaplains

President Obama's Veterans Hospital Bans Christmas Carols

President Obama's Pentagon Takes Orders from Atheists: Nativity Scenes Removed

President Obama's Pentagon Says Following Jesus' Command is a Court Martial Offense

-- From "Religious freedom group asks Veterans Administration to remove Bible from Youngstown facility after success in Akron" by Amanda Garrett, Akron Beacon Journal staff writer 3/16/16

In February, after a phone call from the MRFF’s leader, volunteers at the VA medical center in Akron agreed to remove a New Testament Bible from a “Missing Man” memorial, a display honoring soldiers taken prisoner of war and those missing in action.

Late Wednesday afternoon, MRFF founder Michael “Mikey” Weinstein fired off a letter to the director of the Youngstown VA about another Bible at a Missing Man memorial there.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "GOP Rep Again Blasts Activist Responsible For VA Clinic Bible Removal" by Evan Gahr, Investigative Journalist, Daily Caller 3/17/16

Depending on your perspective the Bible’s presence at the POW/MIA display table at the Akron Multiple Specialty Outpatient Clinic either turned the place into a Taliban military installation or it amounted to nothing but constitutionally protected religious expression.

The Kings James Bible and framed Scriptural quotations were removed in late February the day after Weinstein, acting on behalf of 11 clinic patients, complained to administrator Brian Reinhart. He argued the distinctly Christian place at the table was an unconstitutional establishment of religion and violated VA regulations.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Wright-Patterson AFB removes Bible from POW/MIA display after complaint" by Phillip Swarts, Air Force Times 4/9/16

The book was removed after the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, responding to complaints from service members stationed at the Ohio base, argued that the display should be moved to the base chapel or that it should honor POWs and MIAs of all religions and also those who have no religious affiliation.

MRFF demanded the base either move the display to the chapel, display books of multiple faiths and include one on atheist ideology, remove the Bible, or replace it with a “prop book” that would let viewers draw their own conclusions on what it represents.

The base chose to remove the Bible.

“We thoroughly assessed this particular situation and made the determination to remove the Bible,” said Marie Vanover, a spokeswoman for Wright-Patterson. “Mutual respect is an essential part of the Air Force culture and we must ensure we create an environment in which people can realize their highest potential, regardless of one's personal religious or other beliefs.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Bible removed from POW display at Wright-Patt medical center" by Barrie Barber, Staff Writer, Dayton Daily News 4/11/16

The installation commander at Wright-Patterson [Air Force Base], Col. John M. Devillier, made the decision to remove the Bible from the display at the medical center last week “after thoroughly assessing the situation,” Wright-Patt spokeswoman Marie Vanover said. Devillier was not available for comment Monday.

Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Ann Arbor, Mich.-headquartered Thomas More Law Center, objected to the removal.

“The courts have said ceremonial displays not meant to proselytize anyone is not considered an establishment of religion,” said Thompson. “It is there for someone to acknowledge or that person does not have to acknowledge it. … They can either accept the Bible being there or, if they are really offended by the Bible, they could turn away. “

Thompson said the base commander “capitulated” to the demand to remove the book.

“We cannot separate God and the Judeo-Christian principles upon which our country is founded from the military who dedicate their lives, who put themselves in harm’s way, when they are performing their duties,” Thompson said. “And certainly had the commanding officer wanted to fight this attempt to intimidate them from removing the Bible, we would have been happy to represent the organization without charge and I think would have won the case.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Group's Veterans Director Resigns amid Threats over Bible Removal" by Bryant Jordan, Military.com 4/6/16

On Monday, Jordan Ray, a retired Army captain who served multiple overseas tours, started his job with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. On Tuesday, following Military.com's report about Bible's removal and Ray's role in it, he and his family were stunned and frightened by the threats made against them in online forums.

Mikey Weinstein, president of the organization, told Military.com he regretted Ray's resignation but understands it.

"My family, as well as MRFF's hundreds of paid and volunteer staff and countless supporters domestically and around the world know well what this kind of hostile reprisal and retribution from fundamentalist evangelical Christian extremists is like," he said.

In his letter of resignation, [Ray] said he continues to support what the foundation does in opposing extremist Christians who push their theology on others.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Most Terrorists are White Christians, Colleges Say

And read Bibles Removed, Deviant Sex Housing Added at Illinois University

Obama's VA Veterans Hospital Bans Christmas Carols

A Christian school was turned away at Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia from their annual Christmas caroling -- an anti-Christian trend in President Obama's Pentagon and Veterans Administration.  The group was told that they couldn't sing anything alluding to Christianity, so they just left.

“From our point of view, the purpose of Christmas and its carols is to celebrate and honor the birth of Jesus, and if that goal is taken from us, it is an issue we do not want to be a part of. We do not think it is a good idea to systemically weed out religious Christmas songs from being sung in certain places.”
-- Dan Funsch, Principal, Alleluia Community School

For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:

President Obama's VA Strips Jesus & Bible from Chaplains

President Obama's Pentagon Takes Orders from Atheists: Nativity Scenes

President Obama's Pentagon Says Following Jesus' Command is a Court Martial Offense

President Obama's Army Says Christians are Worst Terrorists

President Obama's NASA Ignores God's Creation: Apollo 8 1968

And also read the latest news of the secular rebellion against Christmas.

UPDATE 2/6/14: President Obama, Hypocrite in Chief, Holds Prayer Breakfast

-- From "VA Hospital Bans Some Christmas Carols" by The Associated Press News 12/24/13

The students from Augusta's Alleluia Community School were prevented from singing traditional holiday songs such as "Silent Night" and "O Come All Ye Faithful."

Hospital spokesman Brian Rothwell said in a statement that military service members represent people of all faiths. He said that VA rules on "spiritual care" are in place out of respect for every faith.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Augusta VA won't let carolers sing religious songs" by Wesley Brown, Athens-Banner Herald (Morris News Service) 12/24/13

Alleluia Community School Principal Dan Funsch said he was sad to hear that the Veterans Affairs hospital’s “spiritual care” grants holiday exemption only to Frosty, Rudolph and the secular characters that make up the 12 Days of Christmas.

. . . Funsch said, when he and his students arrived at the hospital Friday, they were handed a list of 12 Christmas songs the hospital’s Pastoral Service had “deemed appropriate for celebration within the hearing range of all Veterans.”

[Hospital spokesman Brian] Rothwell could not provide the date the VA’s ban on religious Christmas songs took effect, but Funsch said that in 2011 and 2012 his students were welcomed without hesitation at the Augusta VA’s Uptown campus as part of a yearly caroling the school does on its last day of classes before the holiday break.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Policy hits a sour note" by Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff 12/26/13

We don’t know the precise religious makeup of the local VA’s patient population. But we would guess that the hospital’s complaint box isn’t stuffed with indignant comments from patients who don’t want to hear Christmas songs. The Alleluia group reported no problems when it caroled at the VA’s Uptown campus in 2011 and 2012.

. . . do veterans really have to be protected from certain holiday singing? Caroling scarcely qualifies as imposing religious persecution. For a sense of perspective, read recent news stories about the bloody, violent purge of Christianity in other parts of the world. On Christmas Day, 15 Christians died in a church bombing in Baghdad, Iraq, where Christianity has been practiced since the first century A.D.

It appears that the VA is trying to outlaw being offended. But after word of the Augusta caroling decision hit national news wires this week, the hospital inadvertently cast a wider net to offend many more people.

To read the entire opinion column above, CLICK HERE.

For further background, read President Obama Redefines 1st Amendment Freedom of Religion and yet President Obama Denies Leading War Against Christianity, and so Congress Responds to Obama's Military Attack on Christians

Obama's VA Strips Jesus & Bible from Chaplains

The Department of Veterans Affairs San Diego, with the help of the religious left United Church of Christ (sic), has censored VA hospital chaplain trainees Major Steven Firtko, U.S. Army (Retired) and Lieutenant Commander Dan Klender, U.S. Navy. The officers have now sued Eric Shinseki, secretary of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, saying that Ms. Nancy Dietsch, the UCC-endorsed supervisor and employee of the VA-DOD Clinical Pastoral Education Center program, in following the President Obama's VA handbook, explicitly ordered the men to stop quoting the Bible and never to say the name of Jesus Christ as part of their training because speaking such words is an act of bullying.

“No American choosing to serve in the armed forces should be openly ridiculed for his Christian faith, and that is most obviously true for chaplains participating in a chaplain training program. Not only was the treatment these men received inappropriate, it was also a violation of federal law and the religious freedom guarantees of the First Amendment.”
-- Commander J.B. Wells, U. S. Navy (Ret.), executive director of Military-Veterans Advocacy

For background, read Veterans Sue VA Over Freedom of Speech & Religion re: Houston National Cemetery

In addition, read how the Air Force Engages War on Christianity and Persecutes Believers

And also read President Obama's Army Says Christians are Worst Terrorists

And read that President Obama's Pentagon Says Following Jesus' Command is a Court Martial Offense and also says Christians are 'Hate Groups'



-- From "Men Not Allowed to Say 'Jesus' in Chaplain Class: Lawsuit" by Andie Adams and Steven Luke, KNSD-TV 7 (San Diego) 11/8/13

"Anytime you tell somebody you can’t pray in Jesus' name and you’re a chaplain, you are acting inappropriately because you're regulating and censoring their religious rights,” said the plaintiff’s attorney, John B. Wells.

The plaintiff’s attorney says they're filing suit against the VA for fostering an atmosphere where the persecution can happen and not doing enough to stop it.

Attorneys for the VA say the defense will most likely be handled by the Department of Justice, but no one was available yet for comment.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

For background, read President Obama's Dept. of Justice Forces Christian Employees to Celebrate Homosexuality

From "VA sued for harassing Christian chaplains" by Drew Zahn, World Net Daily 11/9/13

. . . on Sept. 24, 2012, the lawsuit claims, during a classroom discussion, Dietsch asked Firtko what he “believed faith was.”

Firtko responded by quoting Hebrews 11:1 – “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Dietsch told Firtko, on the first of several such instances according to the lawsuit, that he was not to quote the Bible in the chaplaincy program classroom.

The lawsuit also claims Dietsch told her students that the VA in general and she in particular do not allow chaplains to pray “in Jesus’ name” in public ceremonies.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Military Chaplains Sue After Being Ordered Not to Quote Bible, Pray in Jesus’ Name" by Heather Clark, Christian News Network 11/10/13

“Ms. Dietsch informed the class she believes God could be a man or woman. Chaplain Firtko [then] recited the Lord’s Prayer, stating, ‘Our Father. who art in Heaven,’” the lawsuit states. “In response, Ms. Dietsch angrily pounded her fist on the table and shouted, ‘Do not quote Scripture in this class!’”

“Ms. Dietsch insisted that evolution was fact and that she believed mankind evolved. Chaplain Firtko stated he believed in the Genesis statement that ‘[i]n the beginning, God created the Heavens and Earth,’” it outlines regarding another instance. “In response, Ms. Dietsch pounded her fist on the table and ordered Chaplain Firtko to not quote Scripture in the classroom, stating [that] it made her feel like she had been ‘pounded over the head with a sledge hammer.’”

“When Chaplain Klender responded to a question during a group discussion regarding the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, CT by stating he would tell a parent whose child was a victim by stating that ‘there is evil in the world,’ Ms. Dietsch impugned his core faith beliefs stating they would not work in a clinical setting,” the suit outlines. “In the presence of the other students she said, ‘You don’t actually believe that do you?’”

Klender eventually withdrew from the program, and Firtko was put on a six-week probation period after being threatened with dismissal. Firtko was eventually let go after Dietsch stated that the “probation period is not yielding the results we both desire.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read the entire court filing: Conservative Baptist Association of America v. Shinseki (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia)

In addition, read President Obama Breaks Law, Gives VA Money to Homosexuals

For further background, read President Obama Redefines 1st Amendment Freedom of Religion and yet President Obama Denies Leading War Against Christianity, and so Congress Responds to Obama's Military Attack on Christians

Obama Breaks Law, Gives VA Money to Homosexuals

President Obama ordered his "justice" department to violate Title 38 of the U.S. Code governing the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense, which designates benefits only for one-man, one-woman marriage. In carrying out the order, DOJ Attorney General Eric Holder admits that the recent Supreme Court "Windsor" decision on same-sex "marriage" did NOT address Title 38, but Holder said the Obama administration considers Title 38 unconstitutional -- no need for a judicial branch decision.

For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:

President Obama's 'Marriage' Lawlessness Spreads Across America

President Obama Shifts Defense Funds to Homosexuals

President Obama Grants 'Reparations' to Homosexuals via Military

Countering Obama's Military Attack on American Culture

-- From "Same-sex military spoues to get benefits, Obama administration says" by The Associated Press 9/5/13

"Decisions by the Executive not to enforce federal laws are appropriately rare," Holder told Congress. "Nevertheless, the unique circumstances presented here warrant non-enforcement."

He said the Supreme Court's conclusion that DOMA imposes a stigma on everyone in same-sex marriages "would seem to apply equally" to the veterans benefits law.

Although the Supreme Court did not directly address the constitutionality of the veterans benefits provisions, the reasoning of the opinion "strongly supports the conclusion that those provisions are unconstitutional," Holder wrote.

President Barack Obama directed the executive branch to cease enforcement of the provision, Holder wrote.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Same-sex spouses can collect veterans' benefits" by Becca Clemons, Los Angeles Times 9/4/13

President Obama goes beyond the Supreme Court's Defense of Marriage Act ruling, directing the government to stop enforcing provisions that withheld spousal benefits from legally married gay veterans.

The Obama administration has made a series of policy decisions since the Windsor decision to extend federal benefits to legally married gay couples. Wednesday's announcement went further in that it declared unconstitutional and therefore invalid an existing statute that was not considered by the Supreme Court.

Last week, the Internal Revenue Service announced that couples in same-sex marriages could file federal taxes jointly. The Office of Personnel Management has allowed same-sex spouses of federal employees to receive insurance benefits regardless of where they live. And in regard to immigration law, same-sex marriages are now treated the same as opposite-sex marriages.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Spousal Benefits Now Await Gay Veterans, Obama Says" by Barbara Leonard, Courthouse News Service 9/4/13

Attorney General Holder announced the move in a letter to John Boehner, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and emphasized its consistency with United States v. Windsor.

Holder's letter also marks an additional step from one the Obama administration took in 2012 when it informed Congress that the Justice Department would no longer defend the Title 38 provisions, but that the Executive Branch would continue to enforce them.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Cost of Federal Government's Benefits Expansion to Same-Sex Couples Unknown, Sources Say" by Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter 9/5/13

Edmund Byrnes, spokesman for the OPM [United States Office of Personnel Management], told The Christian Post via an email sent August 1 . . . "There are numerous benefits that are affected by the Supreme Court's decision . . . [but the OPM does] not have an estimate of same sex spouses that may be added" to the federal government health insurance program (FEHB).

. . . Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen, spokesman for the DoD [Department of Defense], told The Christian Post via email in August that "we will assess costs as we move forward with implementation."

"Additionally, we do not have an estimate of how many people this will impact. . . ." wrote Christensen.

When CP later contacted Christensen again as to whether DoD had an estimate, he responded that "Sept. 3 is just the tip of the iceberg" and that "we won't know for some time."

. . . In addition to no present estimates for the possible costs of the expansions from OPM, the DoD, or HHS, there has been no research done by the United States Government Accountability Office.

Jennifer Ashley of the Public Affairs for GAO told The Christian Post via an email sent Wednesday morning that "we have not done any relevant work."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read President Obama's Sexually Dysfunctional Military On Trial

In addition, read President Obama's Army Says Christians are Worst Terrorists

Veterans Sue VA Over Freedom of Speech/Religion

Three local veterans groups have accused VA officials at the Houston National Cemetery of banning such religious words as "God" and censoring their prayers at soldiers' funerals.

For background, read Houston Pastors Ask VA Official be Fired and also read Feds Fail to Ban Jesus from Memorial Day at Houston VA Cemetery



-- From "Houston National Cemetery in Prayer Dispute" by James Dao, New York Time 8/30/11

The [Veterans Affairs'] new enforcement outraged members of local veterans organizations who have long infused their ceremonies with references to God. This summer, they filed a lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs that has turned the national cemetery into a battleground over the role of prayer in veterans’ burials.

The plaintiffs, aided by a conservative legal group, the Liberty Institute, contend they should be allowed to use a Veterans of Foreign Wars script dating from World War I that refers to the deceased as “a brave man” with an “abiding faith in God” and that seeks comfort from an “almighty and merciful God.” The institute has publicized the dispute nationwide with slick videos and a Web site declaring that “Jesus is not welcome at gravesides.”

The lawsuit, which alleges religious discrimination by the government, and the videos have generated angry letters and Internet commentary against the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as demands from members of the Texas Congressional delegation, mostly Republicans, that the Obama administration fire the Houston cemetery director, Arleen Ocasio.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Judge seeks settlement in VA discrimination suit" by Juan A. Lozano, Associated Press 8/22/11

The lawsuit filed by the Veterans of Foreign Wars District 4, the American Legion Post 586 and the National Memorial Ladies says VA officials barred prayer and religious speech in burials at the Houston cemetery unless families submit a specific prayer or message in writing to the cemetery's director. The lawsuit also accuses VA officials of not allowing them to use religious words such as "God" or "Jesus."

During a hearing on the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes . . . criticized what he believed were efforts by the VA to portray members of the National Memorial Ladies, a local nonprofit that honors veterans and their families, as "old ladies ... attacking people" with religious messages.

Hughes also [said] that attorneys for the veterans groups have continued to amplify their claims by "supplying excruciating detail," including affidavits by veterans and relatives who believe they have been discriminated against by VA officials.

"We have to solve this problem," the judge said.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Houston Pastors Ask VA Official be Fired

Houston pastors have planned a July 4 protest calling for removal of the head of the city's veterans cemetery for censoring religious expression at ceremonies, including the use of "God bless you" at funerals and praying in Jesus' name.

For background, read Feds Fail to Ban Jesus from Memorial Day at Houston VA Cemetery



UPDATE 7/26/11: Calls for Congressional probe into ban of Christian prayers at VA cemetery

UPDATE 7/21/11: Lawmaker says he'll 'zero out' VA official's job

UPDATE 7/18/11: VA denies censorship at Houston National Cemetery

-- From "VA accused in Texas lawsuit of religious bias" by The Associated Press 7/1/11

Several Houston veterans groups are accusing officials with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs of religious discrimination, saying they are being banned at soldiers' funerals from using certain religious words such as "God" and are having their prayers censored.

The VFW and the American Legion say that on at least four occasions in the last two months, VA officials told them that prayer and religious speech could no longer be included in burial rituals they take part in at the Houston cemetery unless families submit a specific prayer or message in writing to Arleen Ocasio, the cemetery's director.

The National Memorial Ladies, a local nonprofit that honors veterans and their families, accuses Ocasio of telling the group it could not use religious words such as "God" or "Jesus" or speak a religious message when talking to veterans' families at the cemetery. The group also said it was told it had to remove the phrase "God Bless" from condolence cards it gives to families at funerals.

The groups also accused Ocasio and the VA of closing the chapel at Houston's cemetery, removing the cross and Bible that were inside and basically turning the building into a "storage facility."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Legion Supporting Religious Censorship Charge Against VA" by The American Legion (posted at The Sacramento Bee) 7/1/11

On Tuesday, June 28, Liberty Institute in Dallas filed court papers alleging that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the director of the Houston National Cemetery, Arleen Ocasio, are engaging in "religious viewpoint discrimination" in violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The American Legion will support the case as an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") as soon as possible.

"The hostile and discriminatory actions by the Veterans Affairs officials in Houston are outrageous, unconstitutional and must stop," said Jeff Mateer, general counsel of Liberty Institute. "Government officials who engage in religious discrimination against citizens are breaking the law. Sadly, this seems to be a pattern of behavior at the Houston VA National Cemetery."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "VA: 'God' Allowed at Cemetery" by Sally MacDonald, FOX TV-26 Houston 7/1/11

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is responding for the first time to complaints the Houston National Cemetery director has gone rogue.

VA Press Secretary Josh Taylor issued the following statement:

"Invoking the name of God or Jesus is not only allowed, it is common at VA National Cemeteries across the country. However, VA's policy is that VA-sponsored honor guards should not make recitations at commital services unless requested to do so by the deceased's survivor(s.)"

Taylor also directed FOX 26 to a little known policy dated 2007. It says Honor Guards "shall not provide texts of any such recitations to the deceased's survivors for consideration."

Lawmakers are beginning to call for the firing of the cemetery's director.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Pastors: Fire VA cemetery chief who banned 'God bless'" posted at World Net Daily 6/30/11

Speaking for the [Houston Area Pastor Council], Pastor Willie Davis, an Army Special Forces veteran, said the pastors concur "wholeheartedly" with a call for dismissal by Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, "for these egregious attacks on the sacred right of expressing religious faith on the hallowed ground of our National Cemetery on behalf of those who died to protect that right."

"There can be no better way to spend a few minutes on Independence Day than to stand together as a community at the National Cemetery and make our voices heard," Davis said.

In court Tuesday, Judge Hughes rebuked VA attorney Fred Hinrichs for being unable to answer her question about whether the chapel was open, noting a simple phone call to the cemetery could provide an answer.

Hughes gave the government until July 21 to investigate and respond to the the complaint.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Feds Fail to Ban Jesus from Memorial Day

After a federal judge ruled against their attempt to forbid the name of Jesus Christ from a Houston Memorial Day invocation, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs quietly gave permission to the pastor to proceed with the ceremony, just as he has done the past two years.

"The government cannot gag citizens when it says it is in the interest of national security, and it cannot do it in some bureaucrat's notion of cultural homogeneity."
-- U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes

UPDATE 8/30/11: Veterans Sue VA Over Freedom of Speech/Religion

UPDATE 7/3/11: Houston Pastors Ask VA Official be Fired

UPDATE 6/28/11: Houston VA accused of censoring religious speech

-- From "Government Concedes: Pastor Can Pray in Jesus' Name on Memorial Day; Federal Judge Rules That Government May Not Discriminate Against Religious Speech" PRNewswire-USNewswire 5/27/11

Federal District Judge Lynn N. Hughes granted a temporary restraining order preventing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and its Director of the Houston National Cemetery, Arleen Ocasio, from preventing Pastor Scott Rainey from praying in Jesus' name during his invocation at a Memorial Day ceremony sponsored by the National Cemetery Council for Greater Houston (a private, non-profit association). At a conference with the judge moments ago, the government conceded and informed Pastor Rainey that it will not oppose his prayer on Memorial Day.

An excerpt from the temporary restraining order reads, "The government's compulsion of a program's inclusion or exclusion of a particular religion offends the Constitution. The Constitution does not confide to the government the authority to compel emptiness in a prayer, where a prayer belongs."

"While I am very disappointed we had to take legal action, I am glad that the judge agreed that removing Jesus' name from my prayer is unconstitutional," said Pastor Rainey of Houston's Living Word Church of the Nazarene. "I am honored to be allowed to pray in the name of Jesus at this somber remembrance of our nation's fallen."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Judge Rules Pastor Can Say 'Jesus Christ' at Memorial Day Ceremony at National Cemetery" by Edmund DeMarchem, FoxNews.com 5/26/11

. . . a month ago, Arleen Ocasio, the director of the cemetery, asked to review Rainey's prayer before the ceremony this Monday, according to court papers. The pastor agreed, but four hours later, she responded with an email saying that “while it was very well written” she asked that it commemorate “veterans from all cultures and religious beliefs” -- in other words, not just those who believe in Jesus.

Rainey called Ocasio, and she told him that if he didn't change the prayer, he would not be allowed to deliver the Memorial Day remarks, Rainey said in his lawsuit against Ocasio. But it was a private event, and court papers pointed out that the department only objected to the parts of the speech deemed too religious.

Rainey then pleaded his case to the office of the secretary of Veteran Affairs, but the department told Rainey that the cemetery's policy was “viewpoint-neutral” and “appropriate,” according to court papers.

The pastor also named the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department in the lawsuit to be allowed to refer to Jesus Christ at the invocation.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

VA Allows God Back Into Flag-Folding Ceremony

A nationwide uproar has caused the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to "clarify" its position — and allow the mention of God back into the flag-folding ceremony at military funerals.

From "Good News! VA Allows God Back Into Flag-Folding Ceremony" by Jennifer Mesko, posted 10/31/07 at CitizenLink.org

A VA official had pulled the recitation from ceremonies at national cemeteries last month after a single complaint was filed with the White House over the phrase accompanying the 11th fold that mentions "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," Fox News reported.

Under the VA's "clarification," volunteer honor guards "are authorized to read the so-called '13-fold' flag recitation or any comparable script," though "survivors of the deceased need to provide material and request it be read."

“A family may request the recitation of words to accompany the meaningful presentation of the American flag as we honor the dedication and sacrifice of their loved ones,” said William F. Tuerk, the VA’s undersecretary for Memorial Affairs, in a statement Tuesday.

Rees Lloyd, a member of the American Legion's Memorial Honor Detail for services at Riverside National Cemetery in California, said he's pleased with the decision.

"We're gratified that the Veterans Administration bureaucrats have realized that their knee-jerk reaction to the complaint of a single complainant … was an error," he told Family News in Focus. "They are trying desperately to cover their tracks."

Read the rest of this article.

Flag-folding recitations for vets banned because of religious content

"This is nuts. There are 26 million veterans in this country, and they're not going to take us all to prison."

From "Flag-folding recitations for vets banned because of religious content" by AP, posted 10/26/07 at One News Now

RIVERSIDE,California - Complaints about religious content have led to a ban on flag-folding recitations by Veterans Administration employees and volunteers at all 125 national cemeteries. It all started because of one complaint about the ceremony at Riverside National Cemetery in California.

During thousands of military burials, the volunteers have folded the American flag 13 times and recited the significance of every fold to survivors. For example, the 12th fold glorifies "God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost."

The complaint revolved around the narration in the 11th fold, which celebrates Jewish war veterans and "glorifies the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."

The National Cemetery Administration decided to ban the entire recital at all national cemeteries. Details of the complaint weren't disclosed.

Administration spokesman Mike Nacincik said the new policy outlined in a Sept. 27 memorandum is aimed at creating uniform services throughout the military graveyard system. He said the 13-fold recital is not part of the U.S. Flag Code and is not government-approved.

...Charlie Waters, parliamentarian for the American Legion of California, said he's advising memorial honor details to ignore the edict. "This is nuts," Waters told the Riverside Press-Enterprise by telephone from Fresno. "There are 26 million veterans in this country, and they're not going to take us all to prison."

Mr. Waters is right. We should follow the example of Daniel and simply continue doing what we have always done, trusting the consequences to God...

Read the whole article.