June 17, 2009 at 6:11 pm
· Filed under Civil Rights
Recently I received a Internet file with a bad claim. The note said that the ACLU filed a lawsuit to try to remove crosses from military headstones. I don’t like many actions by the ACLU, so at first I thought that the assertion was true. With ACLU’s reputation for bad law suits the claim was believable. Then I decided I wanted to read more about the lawsuit.
What I found was that the ACLU did file a lawsuit about military headstones but not for the rumored reasons. It seems that the family of a deceased veteran can request that a symbol of the veterans religious belief be engraved upon the headstone supplied by the government. Problem is that there are a limited number of choices: The Christian Cross, the Jewish Star of David, the Muslim Crescent, but not the Wicca Pentacle. The families of several diseased veterans asked the ACLU to file a suit for religious discrimination. The ACLU won.
The note being passed around the Internet suggests that the ACLU is trying to eliminate crosses from headstones and probably outlawing prayer in the military. What could possibly lead someone to make this erroneous claim?
The action of such false rumor mongers dampens my faith in material on the Internet. There are many reputable sites that provide unbiased information. And, of course, there are some sites that contain opinions geared to a certain point of view. Most of the biased sites, in the past, seemed to report true data and then interpret that data to suit their point of view. Advocating a point of view is acceptable to me as long as the site admits their political or religious preference. But to spread false data, I believe, can be damaging to our society.
I do not know who started the false rumor about the ACLU, but I believe they sere misguided. The ACLU does enough on their own, we don’t need lies to criticize them.
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Monte Stevens said,
June 18, 2009 @ 3:18 pm
Rumors are every where. Again, well written after doing your homework. I like that about you. Hope all is well.
sharon said,
September 20, 2009 @ 12:29 am
I am relieved to see that this email is not true. However, knowing the ACLU, it did seem very plausible. In regards to the comment about “a limited amount of choices for gravemarkers at National Cemeteries;” having buried both my mother and father at Riverside National Cemetery (2006 and 2007) I can say that this is FAR from the truth. Even a few years ago there were almost 40 different religious symbol choices available. There were “religions” that I had never even heard of. It is only common sense that there must be strict oversight of what is allowed and what isn’t, or every new quack religion will be demanding recognition! Being buried at a National Cemetery is free, and if someone is unhappy with the choices made available, they always have the choice of choosing a private cemetery for burial where they can adorn their gravesite with Bozo the Clown and Ronald McDonald if they want to. To see all available gravemarkers, go to the National Cemetery website where there is a picture and list for all to see.
Doom said,
September 22, 2009 @ 8:13 pm
Sharon,
As a regular reader of this site, and a military veteran, I appreciate your comments.
You make some very good remarks. I took your suggestion and read the information from the National Cemetery site. You were correct that there are many choices: Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Shinto, Jewish, and many more. They have even added Wicca. We should also note that the “headstones” are provided to veterans for burial in any cemetery, not just the national cemeteries.
I would argue the price. You mentioned that burial in a national cemetery is free. I would point out that a veteran who meets the requirement has paid many times over for the honor of being buried in our nation’s cemeteries. Many of my dearest friends are buried in those cemeteries.
I also suggest that the VA really did commit an error. They had already recognized, by your count, 40 different “religions” (including atheist). Adding another is not to me a privilege but a right. We have freedom of religion in the USA and that suggests that if our government recognizes a few (Protestant, Jewish, etc.) then it is duty bound to recognize the “religion” of any veteran. As soon as we let a government official decide that he can define what we can believe, we have surrendered just a bit of our freedom.
Colonel Doom