Signs, symbols removed from VA hospital after complaint
Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans’ Hospital in San Antonio has removed Christian symbols that included an “Easter tree” and “He is risen” signs after a civil rights group known for fighting such imagery at military bases complained about them.
The hospital, one of two in-patient medical centers in South Texas operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, said it took down the tree and signs last week.
The action came after the Military Religious Freedom Foundation said they were examples of a “shove-christianity-in-everyone’s faces” attitude and wouldn’t be allowed even in VA chapels, which the foundation said are required to be religiously neutral.
The organization advocates against religious proselytizing in the armed services.
The foundation made public photos it said were shot inside the medical center. One shows a Christmas tree with a bow atop it in a waiting room of a geriatric clinic. Under a large sign saying “spring” was a cross with the words, “He is Risen.” The tree itself was decorated with Christian-themed signs, one of which said, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
A researcher for the foundation, Chris Rodda, called the signs and symbols “the most outrageous display of Christian proselytizing (the foundation) has ever seen at a VA facility.”
The group’s president and founder, Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, sent a message to Julianne Flynn, executive director of the Veterans Affairs South Texas Health Care System, demanding that the imagery be removed “and those responsible for it be held accountable.”
Weinstein, who is Jewish, said the foundation raised the objection on behalf of 44 veterans who are Audie Murphy patients. Of those, 32 are practicing Christians, three are Jews, two are Muslims, two follow Native American faith traditions, one is Hindu and the other is Buddhist, Weinstein said. Three observe what Weinstein called “non-faith traditions.”
Replying to Weinstein, Flynn wrote, “Thank you for bringing your concerns to my attention. The tree display was taken down this week, following the conclusion of the Easter holiday.”
Weinstein is an Air Force veteran and lawyer who served as a White House legal counsel under President Ronald Reagan. Later, his organization mounted a successful campaign to remove gravestones with Nazi imagery from Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.