The First Amendment was designed to prevent the establishment of one religion sanctioned by the government. It was not designed to put obstacles in the way of people choosing to practice their religion.<\/p>\n
Yesterday CNS News<\/a> posted an article about a policy of the Trump administration designed to protect the rights of Americans to practice their religion.<\/p>\n The article reports:<\/p>\n Evangelical leader Franklin Graham praised Vice President Mike Pence for defending religious freedom at Veterans Affairs\u00a0hospitals in a recent speech, where Pence said<\/a>, “Under this administration, VA hospitals will not be religion-free zones.”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In an Aug. 29 post on Facebook, Rev. Graham wrote<\/a>,\u00a0“‘VA hospitals will not be religion-free zones.’\u00a0Vice President\u00a0Mike Pence<\/a>\u00a0spoke at the American Legion\u2019s 101st National Convention yesterday about all that this administration is doing to help our nation\u2019s military veterans.”<\/strong><\/p>\n “He also addressed the issue of a current lawsuit in New Hampshire to remove the Bible of a World War II POW from a VA hospital\u2019s ‘missing man’\u00a0table,” remarked Graham. “Vice President Pence said, ‘\u2026under the last administration, VA hospitals were removing Bibles and even banning Christmas carols in an effort to be politically correct.<\/strong><\/p>\n The article concludes:<\/p>\n “In 2014, the Navy Exchange Service Command issued a memo for the removal of Bibles in Navy Lodge guest rooms following a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation,” reads the letter<\/a>. “The Navy reversed course and announced that the Bibles would be replaced.\u00a0 Similarly, the Establishment Clause does not require that you remove Bibles from the Missing Man Table displays.\u00a0 The mere presence of a Bible coerces no one.”<\/strong><\/p>\n At the Manchester Veterans Affairs hospital in New Hampshire there is a “missing man” memorial table that includes a Bible. In May, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, headed by Michael Weinstein, filed a federal lawsuit<\/a> to have the Bible removed. The litigation is ongoing.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThat sectarian Christian Bible bolted down to that POW\/MIA table at the Manchester NH VAMC is a grotesque gang sign of fundamentalist Christian triumphalism, exceptionalism and supremacy, indeed a middle finger of unconstitutional repugnance to the plurality and separation of church and state guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution,\u201d Weinstein told the Military Times<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Weinstein is well known in the military as someone who frequently uses lawsuits to end religious speech. Barack Obama appointed Mikey Wienstein to be a consultant to the Pentagon to develop new policies on religious tolerance, including a policy for court-martialing military chaplains who share the Christian Gospel during spiritual counseling of American troops. These are some of the policies that President Trump is quietly undoing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The First Amendment was designed to prevent the establishment of one religion sanctioned by the government. It was not designed to put obstacles in the way of people choosing to practice their religion. Yesterday CNS News posted an article about … Continue reading