A controversy has arisen in Houston where military veterans have charged the Department of Veterans Affairs with censoring funeral services at Houston National Cemetery by banning the words "God" and "Jesus."
What adds fuel to this lawsuit is that recently, a federal judge overturned the VA's attempt to prevent Pastor Scott Rainey from using the words "Jesus Christ" during a Memorial Day Service at the cemetery. The VA had attempted to stop Rainey from using the words.
The latest accusation, filed before the same judge, Lynn Hughes, claims that the cemetery's director, Arleen Ocasio, has forbidden the use of the word "God" at veterans' funerals and mandates that all prayers be given to her for later government approval.
If true, this is a bizarre mandate and we hope that this religious discrimination is again stopped by Judge Hughes. Not only is it unlawful and disrespectful to ban such speech at anyone's funeral, in the case of veterans, it's clearly contradictory, since the military oath includes the words, "so help me God." By the way, it would be just as wrong to mandate that religious references be mandatory at any veteran's funeral. Just as military personnel have the option of not saying "so help me God" when taking an oath, they have the option to request that funerals be free of religion.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has released a statement saying that it "respects every veteran and their family's right to (a) burial service that honors their faith tradition." If that's indeed true, then any talk of banning the words "God" or Jesus" should end.
One can hope that the problem was the result of overzealous people trying to extend their authority where it should not go.
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