Air Force veteran sues VA hospital over Bible display

[left-of-center2012]

A U.S. Air Force veteran filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday arguing a Bible on display at a New Hampshire veterans hospital violates the First Amendment, according to The Associated Press.

James Chamberlain claimed in the lawsuit that the Bible, which is part of a display at the Manchester VA Medical Center, violates the amendment’s establishment clause. Chamberlain, himself a Christian, argued in the lawsuit that the table should not single out any one faith, according to the AP.

The Bible in question was carried by a prisoner of war during World War II and is part of the hospital’s Missing Man Table, which commemorates prisoners of war and missing-in-action veterans, according to the news service.

The hospital had initially removed the Bible in January in response to a complaint from another group, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFR), which cited objections from over a dozen patients, but the Bible was replaced in the display in February.

A Department of Veterans Affairs spokesperson told the AP the hospital received a series of complaints from veterans and others in response to its removal, leading officials to restore the Bible and apologize for its removal.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/air-force/442602-air-force-veteran-sues-va-hospital-over-bible-display

[Haggis for Breakfast]

1. Would the VA have displayed a Koran ?

The Bagavad Gita ? The Tao ?

I think not.

[Cold War Spook]

2. I am Jewish,

but considering why the Bible is displayed, it belongs on that table. I do not consider it a violation of the 1st Amendment. This was a soldier's private Bible. That said, it would be a violation of the 1st Amendment if, under the same circumstances, a religious item from a POW/MIA of a non-Christian soldier was not allowed.