Just over two months ago, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), acting on behalf of nineteen veterans who receive medical care at the Austin VA Clinic in Texas, got a large, prominently displayed cross removed from the facility’s lobby. The very large cross, made up of rough copies of the military branch emblems arranged into the shape of a Christian cross, sending the message that our military is a Christian military and only Christian veterans matter, dominated a seating area in the first floor lobby of the building, where veterans of all religions and none are treated.
As one of the veterans who wanted the cross removed wrote to MRFF:
“As a Jew I find this offensive, especially given that none of the other 28 religious symbols identified by Wikipedia are given the same prominent display. I would wager that whoever authorized the placement of the cross would be quite reluctant to display a Satanic symbol if they were offered one.”
And another, a Christian, wrote:
“I am alive today because my battle buddy, (name withheld), took two bullets meant for me in a nasty fire fight one night. He is a fully enrolled member of the (Native American tribe name and location withheld) tribe from the state of (U.S. state name withheld). He survived but lost one of his legs where the bullets hit. I owe him my life.
“I watched my battle buddy take a load of crap for not being a Christian like me and most of our unit. When I walk into the lobby of the Austin VA clinic and see that cross hanging there I think of (name withheld) all the time. It makes me feel awful and I should have stood up before. My battle buddy would have wanted me to and I know I should have.”
As I wrote in my previous post, this large, prominently displayed, unavoidable Christian cross was in violation of the VA’s own regulations regarding religious displays, such as VA Directive 0022, "Religious Symbols in VA Facilities," January 31, 2020, which states (emphasis added):
2. POLICY. Religious symbols may be included in a passive display, including a holiday display, in public areas of VA facilities (see subsection a. below), if the display is of the type that follows in the longstanding tradition of monuments, symbols and practices that simply recognize the important role that religion plays in the lives of many Americans. Such displays should respect and tolerate differing views and should not elevate one belief system over others. …
b. VA is committed to inclusivity and nondiscrimination and evaluates all displays in public areas on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the policy stated above. VA particularly encourages the placement of diverse religious symbols together in passive displays in public areas.
This cross would not even have been allowed as a permanent display in a VA facility chapel, let alone a lobby seating area. VA medical facility chapels are required to be “religiously neutral” at all times when there is not an actual service taking place for a particular faith group, as is clearly stated in VHA Directive 1111, “Spiritual Care,” July 21, 2021 (emphasis added):
9. CHAPELS AND OTHER WORSHIP FACILITIES
a. Chapels. The chapel, or a room set aside exclusively for use as a chapel, must be reserved for patients’ spiritual activities, such as: worship, prayer, meditation and quiet contemplation. Such chapels are appointed and maintained as places for meditation and worship. When VA chaplains are not providing or facilitating a religious service for a particular faith group, the chapel must be maintained as religiously neutral, meaning it cannot be viewed as endorsing one religion over another. Religious literature, content and symbols must be made readily accessible to VA patients and visitors in a chapel or Chaplain Service office at their request. The only exception to the policy on maintaining chapels as religiously neutral are the chapels at VA medical facilities which were built with permanent religious symbols in the walls or windows. In these cases, the VA medical facility Director must also designate an appropriately sized room or construct a religiously neutral chapel, which is maintained in accordance with this VHA directive and VA Space Planning Criteria …
MRFF was successful in getting the cross removed. Within 90 minutes of Mikey Weinstein sending a demand that it be removed, the cross was gone.
But now, two months later, a group of seventeen Christian nationalist Republican Congress members want this symbol of THEIR religion put back on display. As reported by Fox News in an article titled "House Republicans blast Texas VA hospital after removal of cross-shaped 'Remember Our Veterans’ display,” the seventeen Republicans, led by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), have written the following letter to Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis R. McDonough:
May 22, 2023
The Honorable Denis R. McDonough
Secretary of Veterans Affairs
810 Vermont Ave NW Washington, DC 20420
Dear Secretary McDonough,
We write to express our deep concerns regarding the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System’s (CTVHCS) decision to remove a cross bearing the emblems of our military branches and the words, “Remember our Veterans” from the lobby of a clinic in Austin, Texas. Reports indicate CTVHCS took this step following a complaint that the display somehow violated the U.S. Constitution. CTVHCS’s decision exhibits remarkable disregard for the First Amendment and hostility toward basic military history and the traditions of the United States. We call on you to immediately reverse this decision.
From the Distinguished Service Cross established in 1918 to the Air Force Cross in 1960, our country has used the symbol of the cross to honor U.S. military personnel for over a century. Arlington National Cemetery is also home to at least two beloved cross memorials to the nation’s fallen: the Argonne Cross, dedicated in 1923, and the Canadian Cross of Sacrifice, dedicated in 1927. If a cross can adorn the uniforms of the most heroic among us and can stand on the hallowed grounds of Arlington it certainly should be welcomed and honored at the VA clinic in Austin.
The greatest members of our founding understood that the religious and moral nature of America’s heritage was critical to this Republic’s preservation and to our veterans and men and women in the Armed Forces. America’s first President George Washington famously said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports.” As Commander in Chief of the Continental Army years before, he similarly implored his troops, “While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of Religion.” Attempts to sterilize the public square – in this case a clinic that provides medical care to the veterans that sacrificed for our Republic – of all symbols of Christianity flies in the face of the very founding of our nation.
Out of reverence for our country’s military history and longstanding traditions — out of respect for the veterans who have borne the battle for this Republic, its principles, and the freedom it guards — we request that you immediately return the cross to its original display. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
You want to quote George Washington? Well how about what he wrote on behalf of his generals in 1777 when the Continental Congress wanted to cut the number of chaplains from one per regiment to one per brigade, an act that would put many regiments under chaplains who were not of similar beliefs to the Soldiers (emphasis added):
“It has been suggested, that it has a tendency to introduce religious disputes into the Army, which above all things should be avoided, and in many instances would compel men to a mode of Worship which they do not profess. The old Establishment gives every Regiment an Opportunity of having a Chaplain of their own religious Sentiments, it is founded on a plan of a more generous toleration, and the choice of the Chaplains to officiate, has been generally in the Regiments. Supposing one Chaplain could do the duties of a Brigade, (which supposition However is inadmissible, when we view things in practice) that being composed of four or five, perhaps in some instances, Six Regiments, there might be so many different modes of Worship. I have mentioned the Opinion of the Officers and these hints to Congress upon this Subject; from a principle of duty and because I am well assured, it is most foreign to their wishes or intention to excite by any act, the smallest uneasiness and jealousy among the Troops.”
Washington and his generals worried about the “smallest uneasiness” over religion. Anything with a tendency to cause religious disputes “above all things should be avoided.”
Overtly Christian displays like a great big cross in the lobby of a VA clinic cause more than the “smallest uneasiness” among non-Christian veterans, as well as some Christian veterans. The Austin VA Clinic, which did the right thing in removing the cross, and the Secretary of the VA should heed the words of George Washington, not to mention the VA’s own regulations, and ignore this group of Congressional Christian crusaders.
If you can, please help MRFF continue to fight these battles on behalf of our service men and women and veterans who can’t fight back against the Christian nationalists alone!
