|
Printer-Friendly Version
UPDATE: VA CHIEF DEFENDS CHAPEL DECISION --
"It's my responsibility to see that the chapel is
available
and comfortable to our patients of any faith."
For the story about the incident that sparked
this issue, click here...
http://www.vawatchdog.org/07/nf07/nfNOV07/nf113007-5.htm
Story here...
http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=279136
Story below:
Learn
More about how to get a VA Loan today -- Click Here
-------------------------
VA chief defends chapel decision
By Laura Arenschield
Staff writer
The director of Fayetteville’s Veterans Affairs hospital said Thursday he
was simply following federal regulations when he ordered a Bible and cross
be taken out of the hospital’s chapel.
Director Bruce Triplett said the religious articles are still available
for Christian services or for Christians who want to use them during
individual prayer.
“It’s my responsibility to see that the chapel is available and
comfortable to our patients of any faith,” Triplett said.
Article continues below:
"ASK
THE BUILDER" VIDEOS -- HOME IMPROVEMENT TIPS
(use left/right arrows in screen to view more videos)
|
Two veterans have criticized Triplett for
ordering the Bible and cross moved from the chapel’s altar to the
chaplains’ office. The office is next to the chapel inside the Veterans
Affairs Medical Center on Ramsey Street.
The two veterans — Joseph Kinney and Laud Pitt Jr. — have argued that the
hospital is suppressing Christians’ freedom of religion by taking the
Bible and cross out of the chapel.
A Catholic display, including a crucifix, kneeler and Catholic Bible, has
been allowed to remain in the chapel, though it has been partitioned off
from the main part of the room.
Kinney and Pitt have argued that because the Catholic items were allowed
to remain, the Protestant ones should have stayed as well.
Triplett said that because he is following federal Veterans Affairs
regulations, it is not his decision to make. He said the federal
directives allow the Catholic articles to stay in the chapel.
The regulation, which has been in place since 1950, states that chapels
inside VA hospitals be maintained as places of meditation and prayer for
members of any faith.
The current chapel is decorated mostly with military symbols, including
stained-glass artwork of an eagle and emblems from each of the five
branches of service.
Crosses are shown in several of the chapel’s stained-glass windows.
Triplett said those images were OK because the windows also showed other
images.
A lawyer from the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit conservative legal
organization that defends religious liberties and human rights, sent
Triplett a letter earlier this week asking that the Protestant Bible and
cross be permanently returned to the chapel.
Triplett said Thursday he will let the the VA’s legal department respond
to the letter.
He said he had the Bible and cross moved to the chaplain’s office after
the regulation was brought to his attention in September.
Kinney and Pitt have suggested that the hospital maintain the chapel as a
Christian sanctuary and create a separate meditation room for members of
other faiths to use.
Triplett said that creating such a room would detract from the hospital’s
health care.
He said the chapel is meant to be an open area for all faiths to use.
“Because of the changing demographic of our military and the fact that we
have people of all faiths participating in the military, more so than
ever,” he said. “It just makes sense that our chapel be available and
comfortable to people of all faiths.”
Staff writer Laura Arenschield can be reached at
arenschieldl@fayobserver.com
or 486-3572.
-------------------------
Larry Scott --
Don't forget to read all of today's VA
News Flashes (click here)
Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage
email Larry
(go
back to VA Watchdog dot Org Home Page) |
