EasternBrand
08-31-2011, 11:32 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/us/31funerals.html
With the number of veterans on these boards, I thought this story might be of general interest here, despite our obvious distaste as a community for the heated political rhetoric that often accompanies these types of controversies.
I summarize for the semi-literate, lazy, and paywall-blocked: Houston National Cemetery is enforcing a policy barring volunteer honor guards from reading recitations--even religious ones--at funerals without a specific request from the family. The lawsuit, although I have not read it, appears to be a First Amendment challenge to what some local veteran's groups view as religious discrimination. The Department of Veteran's Affairs, for its part, says that the policy, written and adopted in 2007, was a response to complaints about religious references being inserted unrequested into veteran's funeral ceremonies. Supporters say that religious references can still be requested. Opponents say that the cemetery has interpreted the policy in a way that makes it difficult even to tell the family that they have the option.
Does a policy that acts to prohibit religious recitations absent explicit, unsolicited permission violate the Constitution? What is the best way to handle the delicate overlap of a family's grief and religious tradition in a government-sponsored zone?
With the number of veterans on these boards, I thought this story might be of general interest here, despite our obvious distaste as a community for the heated political rhetoric that often accompanies these types of controversies.
I summarize for the semi-literate, lazy, and paywall-blocked: Houston National Cemetery is enforcing a policy barring volunteer honor guards from reading recitations--even religious ones--at funerals without a specific request from the family. The lawsuit, although I have not read it, appears to be a First Amendment challenge to what some local veteran's groups view as religious discrimination. The Department of Veteran's Affairs, for its part, says that the policy, written and adopted in 2007, was a response to complaints about religious references being inserted unrequested into veteran's funeral ceremonies. Supporters say that religious references can still be requested. Opponents say that the cemetery has interpreted the policy in a way that makes it difficult even to tell the family that they have the option.
Does a policy that acts to prohibit religious recitations absent explicit, unsolicited permission violate the Constitution? What is the best way to handle the delicate overlap of a family's grief and religious tradition in a government-sponsored zone?