{"id":2187,"date":"2011-06-30T06:52:09","date_gmt":"2011-06-30T10:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/?p=2187"},"modified":"2011-06-30T23:48:00","modified_gmt":"2011-07-01T03:48:00","slug":"va-cemetery-defies-judge-bans-religious-words-from-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/2011\/06\/va-cemetery-defies-judge-bans-religious-words-from-services.html","title":{"rendered":"Federal cemetery defies judge, bans “Jesus” or “God bless you” from veterans’ funerals"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
American Legion members fire off a final farewell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Three\u00a0national veterans groups\u00a0have complained that officials at the Houston\u00a0National Cemetery have defied\u00a0a federal judge’s\u00a0order to quit censoring prayer and banning\u00a0the words “God” and “Jesus” from funeral services.<\/p>\n

Despite a Memorial Day court order, local veterans say the Department of Veterans Affairs\u00a0continues to\u00a0censor their prayers, eulogies and traditional ceremonies in violation of the First Amendment’s guarantee that\u00a0the government cannot\u00a0impede the free exercise of religion or\u00a0Americans’ freedom of speech.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A Veterans of Foreign Wars bugler <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
VFW officials salute a fallen comrade<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the National Memorial Ladies all complain of “religious hostility” at the cemetery.\u00a0Their 26-page complaint\u00a0alleges that\u00a0the cemetery’s director, Arleen Ocasio, bans\u00a0religious\u00a0phrases\u00a0and requires prayers to be submitted in advance for her approval.<\/p>\n

“We were told we could no longer say “God bless you” and “God bless your family,” said Marilyn Koepp, a volunteer with the National Memorial Ladies. “How did I feel? I probably shouldn’t say how I felt because it was absolutely apalling that this woman would come aboard and tell us we can not say ‘God bless you.’<\/p>\n

“What is happening to our country?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
American Legion veterans pay their respects<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just unfair that somebody would ask us to take God out of our vocabulary,\u201d Cheryl Whitfield, founder of Houston chapter of the \u00a0National Memorial Ladies, told the Houston Chronicle. <\/em>\u201cI could\u2019ve kept my mouth shut and let things happen, but when it comes to standing up for your belief in God and giving comfort to the families, I don\u2019t want to regret not saying anything. We all had to stand up for what we believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n

“We are private citizens in a private organization, and yet we are restricted,” said John Spahr of the\u00a0local Veterans of Foreign Wars, which provides ceremonial guards and ceremonies for\u00a0about 60 funerals a week to honor veterans and console families.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Veterans present the Stars and Stripes to a grieving family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nobleton Jones said he felt belittled when he\u00a0was told\u00a0he couldn’t use the word “God” in his recitation to a family as he handed them a bag of shell casings from a gun salute. He was told he can no longer say, “We ask that God grant you and your family grace, mercy and peace.”<\/p>\n

“That has been censored,” said Jones.<\/p>\n

Last month, a local pastor won his fight to\u00a0end his prayer in\u00a0“Jesus’ name” at the cemetery’s Memorial Day ceremony.<\/p>\n

A judge granted a stay against the VA and the prayers were allowed to go on without government oversight or editing.\u00a0 U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes told\u00a0Ocasio and Department of Veterans Affairs officials that they could not block Houston pastor Scott Rainey from invoking the name of Jesus Christ in a Memorial Day prayer.<\/p>\n

\n

CLICK HERE to read about the Memorial Day ruling<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Judge Hughes told CNN that the government cannot “gag citizens when it says it is in the interest of national security, and it cannot do it in some bureaucrat’s notion of cultural homogeneity.” He\u00a0warned the\u00a0VA that it had stepped too far, saying officials were essentially \u201cdecreeing how citizens honor their veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n

“But despite the judge\u2019s warning, it seems the censorship has continued,” reports\u00a0KTRH\u00a0radio in Houston.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Cemetery Director Arlene Ocasio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ocasio couldn’t be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

Veterans allege the VA turned the cemetery’s chapel into a meeting room shortly after\u00a0Ocasio came on board two years ago. They say they won’t back down from the fight.<\/p>\n

“I am going to say ‘God bless you’ until I don’t know what would make me ever stop it,” said Koepp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Three\u00a0national veterans groups\u00a0have complained that officials at the Houston\u00a0National Cemetery have defied\u00a0a federal judge’s\u00a0order to quit censoring prayer and banning\u00a0the words “God” and “Jesus” from funeral services. Despite a Memorial Day court order, local veterans say the Department of Veterans Affairs\u00a0continues to\u00a0censor their prayers, eulogies and traditional ceremonies in violation of the First Amendment’s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[216,155,193,291],"tags":[288,204,425,286,290,377,289,287],"class_list":["post-2187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-4th-of-july","category-christians","category-free-speech","category-veterans","tag-american-legion","tag-christian","tag-free-speech","tag-houston-national-cemetery","tag-jesus","tag-prayer","tag-veterans-of-foreign-wars","tag-vfw"],"yoast_head":"\nFederal cemetery defies judge, bans "Jesus" or "God bless you" from veterans' funerals - On the Front Lines of the Culture Wars<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/on_the_front_lines_of_the_culture_wars\/2011\/06\/va-cemetery-defies-judge-bans-religious-words-from-services.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Federal cemetery defies judge, bans "Jesus" or "God bless you" from veterans' funerals - On the Front Lines of the Culture Wars\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0 Three\u00a0national veterans groups\u00a0have complained that officials at the Houston\u00a0National Cemetery have defied\u00a0a federal judge’s\u00a0order to quit censoring prayer and banning\u00a0the words “God” and “Jesus” from funeral services. 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