Judge Wants Attorneys to Settle Cemetery Prayer Dispute
News Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011HOUSTON (AP) _ A federal judge is asking attorneys for veterans groups and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to settle a lawsuit accusing Houston VA officials of religious discrimination.
Three veterans groups accuse VA officials at Houston National Cemetery of banning the mention of Jesus or God, and censoring their prayers at soldiers’ funerals.
An attorney for the VA insisted there was no such ban on religious words at soldiers’ funerals.
During a hearing Monday on the lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes called on both sides to find a solution. But Hughes seemed sympathetic to the veterans groups.
The allegations follow ones made in May by a Houston pastor who sued to be allowed to refer to Jesus Christ at a Memorial Day invocation at the Houston cemetery. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order forbidding VA officials from censoring the pastor’s prayer.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Posted by Chace Murphy
on Aug 23 2011. Filed under News.
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The facts are not printed clearly here. The family of the deceased gets to decide what is said during the ceremony, per the VA rules. This is how it should be. These ‘organizations’ want to ignore the will of the deceased or their family.
I don’t think you really cover the facts either – nor did the NYT, etc. This should go to trial. There are apparently distinct differences on what the “facts” are in this case. These would be best worked out in a trial – with full discovery. (i.e. govt editorial control on funeral content, closing of the chapel/conversion to a storage facility, something about missing bibles and religious symbols, gag-orders on the veteran’s organizations, etc.)
I’m a veteran (and an inactive member of the VFW) and not religious at all, but this needs to be worked out in court and not in the press.