U.S. Military to Rescind Policy Banning Bibles at Hospital

Last year during a trip to Washington for Memorial Day, I traveled with the Nam Knights. I had a VIP tour of Walter Reed and was able to meet some of the wounded soldiers there. As a Chaplain, naturally I brought several tiny gifts. My guide took a look at what I was hoping to give out. She was happy with a peg game but when it came to religious items I brought, I was told I'd have to hand them over to the hospital Chaplain. A Christian store donated some of the gifts and I bought the rest with my own money. I was a bit upset but understood rules were rules. I hoped the Chaplain would be able to give the book markers and prayer cards out but I had no way of knowing if he did or not. Honestly by the time I met the patients, everything else didn't seem that important.

What got me about the following article is the fact that family members couldn't bring in anything religious to their own family members!

U.S. Military to Rescind Policy Banning Bibles at Hospital
Posted in Featured, Top Stories
Dec 2, 2011
By Todd Starnes
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said they are rescinding a policy that prohibits family members of wounded military troops from bringing Bibles or any religious reading materials to their loved ones.

The decision to rescind the ban on Bibles came exactly one day after a Republican lawmaker denounced the policy on the House floor and called on President Obama to publicly renounce the military policy.

“The President of the United States should address this and should excoriate the people who brought about this policy and the individual who brought it about should be dismissed from the United States Military,” Rep. Steve King (R-IA) told Fox News Commentary.

King spoke from the House floor Thursday blasting a policy memorandum from the commander of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center written by Chief of Staff C.W. Callahan. The September 14th memo covers guidelines for “wounded, ill, and injured partners in care.”

“No religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading material, and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit,” the policy states.

“That means you can’t bring in a Bible and read from it when you visit your son or your daughter, perhaps – or your wife or husband,” King said. “It means a priest that might be coming in to visit someone on their death bed couldn’t bring in the Eucharist, couldn’t offer Last Rites. This is the most outrageous affront.”
read more here

When it comes to healing after trauma, faith plays a huge part plus the wounded need all the comfort they can get. When they are people of faith, it should be up to them if they want to have these religious items or not. What's next? Telling members of the Clergy they cannot give communion or visit them?