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Topic: Veterans told "Don't mention God" in Cemeteries, Hospitals.
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KnowHim
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Veterans told "Don't mention God" in Cemeteries, Hospitals. Teachers too. Take action!
Freedom of speech to pray publicly "in Jesus name" faces new attacks across America, as the Obama Administration has now fully caved-in to atheist complainers, and helped ban free religious speech from schools to the grave, for teachers and military veterans.
But two new bills before Congress and the Senate could restore religious freedom for Veterans and Teachers, protecting freedom of speech and public prayer rights that generations of Americans have died fighting to protect. They areHouse Bill H.R. 2848, the "Veterans Religious Freedom Act," and Senate Bill S.Res.18, a resolution supporting optional public prayer at school board meetings nationwide. Our new petition campaign supports these two important bills.
Recently Veterans Affairs (V.A.) Director Arleen Ocasio was rebuked by a federal judge after she outlawed prayers mentioning "Jesus" or "God" form the National Cemetery in Houston TX. Director Ocasio and the Obama Administration reportedly censored and banned any reference to Jesus or God in prayers, cards, and even casual conversation on V.A. Cemetery grounds, public land. She even turned the Chapel into a storage room!
Ocasio tried to stop heroic Pastor Scott Rainey from praying "in Jesus name," but he won an emergency court-order stopping the V.A. and restoring his free speech rights. Federal Judge Lynn Hughes ordered the V.A. and Arleen Ocasio, director of the Houston National Cemetery, to stop censoring the pastor's right to pray "in Jesus name," since the Obama Administration violated the First Amendment. Judge Hughes wrote: "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. The right to free expression ranges from the dignity of Abraham Lincoln's speeches to Charlie Sheen's rants."
Outraged, several pro-faith Republican Congressmen led by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) have drafted and sponsored the Veteran's Religious Freedom Act. "It is the constitutional duty of the federal government to protect speech and religion, not prohibit it. Government censorship of funeral services for our veterans is unacceptable, unconstitutional and un-American," said Congressman Poe. "The policy of the director of the Houston VA Cemetery is anti-Christian, anti-religion and anti-veteran. What has reportedly taken place at the Houston VA Cemetery is inexcusable, and Congress must take immediate action to protect the rights of those who have fought and died for our country."
This important Veterans Religious Freedom Act, H.R. 2848, provides the Secretary of Veterans Affairs may not:
1) prescribe regulations to censor or otherwise limit the type of religious speech that may be performed by a member of a veterans service organization at the funeral or memorial service of a veteran; or
2) censor or otherwise limit type of religious speech of a private speakers who have been invited to speak on property of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
This bill would force Obama's Director Ocasio to allow free speech honoring Jesus Christ by family members, invited speakers, pastors, and veterans groups at the graves, not only in Houston but all Veterans cemeteries and hospitals nationwide! Let's take action now...
SELECT HERE to sign NEW PETITION to DEFEND PUBLIC PRAYER with H.R. 2848 the VETERANS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT and S.RES.18 for PRAYER AT SCHOOL MEETINGS and we will fax 535 Congressmen/Senators instantly (saving you time!)
Public School Board Meetings also attacked for allowing public prayer by teachers
It's not just at the grave where public prayer is being attacked. S.Res.18 calls for the Senate to recognize that prayer before school board meetings is a protected act in accordance with the fundamental principles upon which the Nation was founded, and expresses support for allowing the optional practice of prayer at the beginning of the school board meetings. Senator David Vitter (R- LA) first introduced this bill in 2005 but it has been blocked by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and lobbyist lawyers from the ACLU. The ACLU has bullied school boards over prayer for decades, with empty threats and bogus lawsuits, often lost but sometimes won by liberal activist judges who hate religious freedom of speech. The time has come to pass S.Res.18 and give conservatives judges the power to support prayer and fight the ACLU.
The ACLU has backed lawsuits against school boards, and criticized us who support school board prayer. Senator Vitter said: "I do not share the ACLU's opinion, and more importantly, the people of Louisiana do not share the ACLU's opinion." Neither does the Supreme Court. In 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court held, in the case of Marsh v. Chambers, that the practice of opening legislative sessions with prayer has become part of the fabric of our society, and is fully constitutional. "To invoke divine guidance on a public body entrusted with making the laws is not a violation of the Establishment Clause," wrote the Supreme Court, "but rather is simply an acknowledgement of beliefs widely held among the American people."
Sadly, even with the court's ruling defending prayer, the ACLU has not given up attempts to silence prayer in our schools. With President Obama appointing more and more ungodly, anti-Christian, socialist judges to federal benches, we must encourage our Senators and Congressmen to pass a law protecting what is left of Jesus in public schools: the freedom to speak Jesus' name in public prayer! Our teachers deserve that freedom, and so do our children deserve God's blessing. Let's take action...
SELECT HERE to sign NEW PETITION to DEFEND PUBLIC PRAYER with H.R. 2848 the VETERANS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT and S.RES.18 for PRAYER AT SCHOOL MEETINGS and we will fax 535 Congressmen/Senators instantly (saving you time!)
Veterans Groups Outraged. V.F.W. and American Legion on high alert.
"Generations of patriotic Americans have fought, bled and died to help defend the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees fundamental rights of religious expression and freedom of speech," said V.F.W. Commander-in-Chief Richard L. Eubank. "Those basic tenants are clearly being violated at the cemetery," by the Obama Administration.
The American Legion Post 586 routinely honors our veterans for decades by performing its burial ritual for fallen veterans. On several separate occasions, government officials reportedly told the burial teams that prayer and religious speech could no longer be included in the burial ritual unless the family submits a specific prayer or message in writing to Director Ocasio for her approval. Ocasio's Office told the V.F.W. Honor Guard Commander, Junior Vice Commander and Chaplain that the word "God" is forbidden in all circumstances. Yet another veteran chaplain banned from praying to God? As a former Navy Chaplain punished for praying "in Jesus name" in uniform, I say never again.
The American Heritage Funeral Home, which sits next to the Houston National Cemetery, was instructed by Director Ocasio that the Funeral Home was reportedly forbidden from informing the families of veterans that they had an option of requesting an optional prayer in the V.F.W. burial ritual. The "National Memorial Ladies," a volunteer group was told by Ocasio that the group had to remove "God Bless" from Condolence Cards given out to grieving families.
Volunteers were reportedly also banned by Ocasio from speaking a religious message when talking on cemetery grounds. "On March 15th Director Ocasio told me that I couldn't say 'May God grant you grace, mercy and peace' to grieving families," said Nobleton Jones, Honor Guard Junior Vice Commander. To add injury to insult the chapel on cemetery grounds was closed. The chapel crosses, Bibles, and chapel bells were all removed and the chapel was turned into the cemetery storage room. Why hurt our grieving veteran families any more? We need a law. Help us pass H.R. 2848...
SELECT HERE to sign NEW PETITION to DEFEND PUBLIC PRAYER with H.R. 2848 the VETERANS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ACT and S.RES.18 for PRAYER AT SCHOOL MEETINGS and we will fax 535 Congressmen/Senators instantly (saving you time!)
Friends, our veterans and teachers deserve the same religious freedom they defend for others. Let's take a stand today, and demand Congress pass both prayer bills, now!
God Bless you, in Jesus' name,
http://prayinjesusname.org/2prayerbills
Posts: 3276 | From: Charlestown, IN | Registered: Jun 2002
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