Navy Bans Bibles then Kicks Atheist Group to the Curb – Puts Bibles Back in Hotels

Tim Brown August 17, 2014

Atheists from the Freedom from Religion Foundation had complained back in March to the US Navy that the Navy was unconstitutionally showing preference to Christianity. As a result, the Navy sent out a memo in June informing all lodge managers that any religious materials, including Bibles, would be removed from the rooms under "established procedures for the lost-and-found property." However, upon a review of its policies, the Navy ordered that the Bibles, largely furnished by Gideons International, be returned to the rooms.

Sam Grover, the attorney for the atheist group, complained that the Bible had been the only religious book seen in the lodges for the past 20 years.

"That demonstrates the Navy's preference for Christianity over all other religions and nonreligious sects," he told Stars and Stripes.

"That decision and our religious accommodation policies with regard to the placement of religious materials are under review," Navy spokesman Cmdr. Ryan Perry wrote in an email to Stars and Stripes. "While that review is under way, religious materials removed from Navy Lodge rooms will be returned."
Stars and Stripes went on to report:
Grover said the Freedom from Religion Foundation does not expect Bibles or other religious materials to disappear from lodges. Instead, chaplains could make the Bible available to those who request it or Navy lodges could supply a collection of religious and atheist texts at the front desk, he said.

The group suggested lodges offer patrons the Born Again Skeptics Guide to the Bible, which is sold through its website.

The brief removal of Bibles caused some outrage from religious groups.

The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, which advocates for the free practice of religion in the military, called it an act of censorship and criticized the Navy for bending to the atheist complaint.

"It's tiresome to see senior military leaders needlessly cave into activist groups offended by anything Christian," Ron Crews, a retired colonel and chaplain who is the executive director of the group, said in a released statement.
So, the atheists want the Navy to pay for their rags to be placed into hotels, but the Gideons want to provide Bibles, free of charge, to any hotel they can put them in, whether they are associated with the military or not.
I wonder if Mr. Gordan and the Freedom from Religion Foundation are even aware of our country's Christian beginnings. I wonder if they are aware of the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the State constitutions of the original thirteen colonies or the historical claims of some of America's leaders, including these by our founding fathers:
"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. To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest glory to add the more distinguished character of Christian." George Washington, The Writings of Washington, pp. 342-343


"Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God ... What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be." John Adams, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III, p. 9

John Quincy Adams said:
The hope of a Christian is inseparable from his faith. Whoever believes in the Divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures must hope that the religion of Jesus shall prevail throughout the earth. Never since the foundation of the world have the prospects of mankind been more encouraging to that hope than they appear to be at the present time. And may the associated distribution of the Bible proceed and prosper till the Lord shall have made "bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God" [Isaiah 52:10]. -Life of John Quincy Adams, W. H. Seward, editor (Auburn, NY: Derby, Miller & Company, 1849), p. 248.
Noah Webster wrote:
Our citizens should early understand that the genuine source of correct republican principles is the Bible, particularly the New Testament, or the Christian religion. -Noah Webster, History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie and Peck, 1832), p. 6.
And he added:
The Bible is the chief moral cause of all that is good and the best corrector of all that is evil in human society – the best book for regulating the temporal concerns of men. -Noah Webster, The Holy Bible. .. With Amendments of the Language (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1833), p. v.
These are just a sampling of many of the writings of the founders. I am not one to sit here and proclaim every founder to be a Christian, but I think it is clear that they believed that law and morality were derived from the Scriptures.
These atheists, such as those in the Freedom from Religion Foundation are not patriots to America, as George Washington so aptly said. They are domestic enemies to America, the people of America and God.
Looks like this is the second whipping the Freedom from Religion Foundation has taken this week from those who are not afraid to stand up and rebuke them publicly and not be bullied by their rhetoric. While I wish the Navy had told them to take a hike in the first place, I'm glad they did the review and re-instituted the Bible in their hotels. Well done!
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