Robert Wilkie, the soft-spoken and managerial-minded secretary of Veterans Affairs, went public in a big way this summer when he said he refused to be “bullied” by a federal lawsuit claiming a Bible on display at a New Hampshire VA hospital violated the separation of church and state.
In an interview with The Washington Times in his office at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Mr. Wilkie said displaying a Bible in a VA hospital is a matter of liberty and that the Obama administration erred in trying to eliminate religious symbols from the veterans health care system.
“The last administration … had a very ahistoric approach [to veterans],” Mr. Wilkie said. “They did not know the makeup of the force. They did not know the history of this country when it came to religious foundations, the religious support for those in uniform.”
He said he grew up in a military family in North Carolina and believes the vast majority of veterans “identify themselves religiously.”
Meanwhile, a federal judge in New Hampshire will soon decide whether a Bible in a bolted-down display case in the lobby of a Manchester hospital funded by taxpayer dollars represents constitutionally protected speech.
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Mr. Wilkie is wrong in his assumptions. The military has been made up of brave patriots of all faiths, and none thereof, all whom have served and died to protect religious liberty, and to ensure that the government does not favor one religion over the other. THAT is the history of religious foundations when it comes to government. To be sure the government doesn't play favorites.
ReplyDeleteThis is a secular republic, not a theocratic government. Force feeding one religions iconography to represent all veterans dishonors and perverts the service of those who gave the greatest sacrifice to protect our freedoms, including religious liberty. It is even more abhorrent to those veterans who are not Bible followers.
This is not a free speech issue, this is a tyrannical theocratic majority trying to force it's will on the rest of this nation. This is not freedom, nor is it liberty, and is not in line with the founding of this nation, or the ideas this nation represents. It is wholly UN-American.
so would it be alright to have a book of all religions on display
DeleteI agree. If the hospital was funded and operated by one religion then that organization should be allowed to display their beliefs. In this case taxpayers fund the hospital the hospital should respect all religions.
ReplyDelete@ August 29, 2019 at 11:57 AM
ReplyDeleteNO, it would be more appropriate to have the Constitution or Bill of Rights on display.