{"id":923,"date":"2011-09-01T08:38:11","date_gmt":"2011-09-01T12:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/windowsanddoors\/?p=923"},"modified":"2011-08-31T13:43:44","modified_gmt":"2011-08-31T17:43:44","slug":"litigating-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2011\/09\/litigating-god.html","title":{"rendered":"Litigating God"},"content":{"rendered":"

An ugly fight over what prayers can be said, and by whom, at Houston’s national cemetery, is getting uglier.\u00a0 Plaintiffs are now suing the Department of Veterans\u2019 Affairs <\/a>over what they call \u201cbanning God at military funerals\u201d and for making \u201cJesus unwelcome at gravesides\u201d of fallen veterans.\u00a0 That simply isn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n

And while as VA officials say, they simply want families to decide the nature of their loved one\u2019s funeral service, including the words which are said, those same officials could be more sensitive to the religious sensibilities of many of their clients.<\/p>\n

Not only is the suit unnecessary, it is part of a well-established national trend that wastes an enormous amount of money.\u00a0 According to the Manhattan Institute<\/a>, The United States struggles with a uniquely costly civil justice system. The direct costs of tort litigation, in particular, reached $247 billion in 2006, more than what Americans spend every year on new automobiles!<\/p>\n

That God is being used to fuel that kind of needless fighting and wasteful spending should disturb all of us, especially people of faith.\u00a0 Religious people should be at the forefront of working problems out, not exacerbating them.\u00a0 They should be taking the lead in using conversation, not leaping at every opportunity for increased litigation.<\/p>\n

Win or lose, the plaintiffs in this case are using personal pain to score political points, which is certainly as bad as VA officials lamely hiding behind words like \u201cinclusive\u201d and \u201crespecting families\u2019 wishes\u201d.\u00a0 Litigating God is rarely a good idea, and in this case it\u2019s both costly and foolish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An ugly fight over what prayers can be said, and by whom, at Houston’s national cemetery, is getting uglier.\u00a0 Plaintiffs are now suing the Department of Veterans\u2019 Affairs over what they call \u201cbanning God at military funerals\u201d and for making \u201cJesus unwelcome at gravesides\u201d of fallen veterans.\u00a0 That simply isn\u2019t true. And while as VA…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1,3,4],"tags":[20,90,12,166,84],"class_list":["post-923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-politics","category-pop-culture","category-religion","tag-freedom-of-religion","tag-god","tag-politics-2","tag-religion-and-politics","tag-religion-news"],"yoast_head":"\nLitigating God - Windows and Doors<\/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\/windowsanddoors\/2011\/09\/litigating-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Litigating God - Windows and Doors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An ugly fight over what prayers can be said, and by whom, at Houston’s national cemetery, is getting uglier.\u00a0 Plaintiffs are now suing the Department of Veterans\u2019 Affairs over what they call \u201cbanning God at military funerals\u201d and for making \u201cJesus unwelcome at gravesides\u201d of fallen veterans.\u00a0 That simply isn\u2019t true. And while as VA…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2011\/09\/litigating-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Windows and Doors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-01T12:38:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-08-31T17:43:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brad Hirschfield\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Litigating God - Windows and Doors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/windowsanddoors\/2011\/09\/litigating-god.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Litigating God - Windows and Doors","og_description":"An ugly fight over what prayers can be said, and by whom, at Houston’s national cemetery, is getting uglier.\u00a0 Plaintiffs are now suing the Department of Veterans\u2019 Affairs over what they call \u201cbanning God at military funerals\u201d and for making \u201cJesus unwelcome at gravesides\u201d of fallen veterans.\u00a0 That simply isn\u2019t true. 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