In Texas, three Christian military organizations -- Veterans of Foreign Wars District 4, the American Legion Post 586, and the National Memorial Ladies -- have filed suit against the VA because the Veterans' Administration doesn't include Christian prayers in vets' funerals unless the deceased and/or the family request it. They are claiming that Christianity and Christians are being discriminated against when Christianity isn't inserted into every funeral, whether the family wants it or not.
"It makes my skin crawl that liberals are attempting to drive prayer out of a funeral ceremony for our heroes," Texas Rep. John Culbersontold Fox News, which has given significant airtime to the controversy. "We're going to fix this so that no Obama liberal bureaucrat will interfere with the funeral of a hero."
The VA's position is both clear and correct:
"The idea that invoking the name of God or Jesus is banned at VA national cemeteries is blatantly false. The truth is VA's policy protects veterans' families' rights to pray however they choose at our national cemeteries. Put simply, VA policy puts the wishes of the veteran's family above all else on the day it matters most -- the day they pay their final respects to their loved one."
It does not take somebody who is an Atheist, a Muslim, a Jew, a Buddhist, a Hindu, or any other non-Christian religion to see how this is wrong. All one has to do is imagine how a Christian family would feel if they had no choice but to listen while prayers from the Koran were read over the body of their deceased loved one.
Could you imagine how Fox News would react in response to that kind of a story?
This was a small excerpt from the original story reported at Atheism.com and I encourage you to read more there.
With a tip of the hat to Gryphen at Immoral Minority.
Posted by Tom Ferrio
