Dozens Of Leaders Encourage Secretaries Of Defense And Navy To Allow Gideons Bibles In Military Facilities

DALLAS, Sept. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Last Friday, the Restore Military Religious Freedom Coalition, of which Liberty Institute is a member, submitted a letter to the Secretary of Defense and the Office of the Secretary of the Navy to encourage Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM) to allow placement of Gideons Bibles in all Department of Defense (DOD) lodging facilities. The letter responds to a complaint Navy officials received in March from a humanist group.  The Coalition's letter also clarifies that there is no constitutional or military prohibition against DOD acceptance of donated religious materials. According to a U.S. Navy document, Gideons International donates the Bibles at no government expense.

In June 2014, the Navy responded to the complaint by agreeing to remove Gideons Bibles from Navy lodging facilities.  Many organizations, including the Coalition and Liberty Institute, expressed outrage at the Navy's decision.  By August 2014, the Navy reversed its course and permitted the Gideons Bibles to be returned to Navy lodges.  But, it is unclear whether other branches of the military will follow the Navy's example.    

The joint-letter, signed by coalition members of more than 20 distinguished organizations including Michael Berry, Liberty Institute's Director of Military Affairs, says: "We believe this is an easy problem to solve: the Navy should direct NEXCOM to allow Gideons Bibles in all facilities for which the Gideons are willing to make Bible donations. Furthermore this should be a DOD-wide policy—not merely one put in place for Navy facilities…There is no constitutional reason to worry about a policy along these lines. The mere presence of a Gideons Bible in a hotel room does not constitute a form of messaging from the proprietor to the guest." Follow this link to review online the entire letter and its signatories: https://libertyinstitute.org/document.doc?id=244

Berry expressed concern about the recent trend in religious hostility within the military.  "Many of our military's religious traditions and observances pre-date America's founding, but groups like the Freedom From Religion Foundation want to erase that history," Berry said.  "We've seen Bibles temporarily banned from military hospitals, demands that veterans' memorials be torn down, and crosses removed from military chapels.  This is just the latest in a well-documented pattern of hostility against religion in our military."

About Liberty Institute
Liberty Institute is a national nonprofit legal group dedicated to defending and restoring religious liberty across America — in our schools, for our churches, inside our military and throughout the public arena. Liberty's vision is to reestablish religious liberty in accordance with the principles of our Founding Fathers. For information, visit www.LibertyInstitute.org.

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SOURCE Liberty Institute