Washington Gadfly

Ted Cruz Joins Lawmakers Asking VA Sec To Explain Clinic Bible Removals

Shutterstock

Evan Gahr Investigative Journalist
Font Size:

Texas Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] quietly joined 38 congressional lawmakers on Thursday asking Veterans Administration Secretary Robert McDonald to justify the removal of Christian Bibles from POW-MIA display tables at three VA clinics and an air force base.

The Bibles were yanked after objections from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation on behalf of mostly Christian clients at the facilities. MRFF president Mikey Weinstein contended that their display violated the Establishment Clause plus military and VA regulations.

In a letter free of the vitriol usually directed at Weinstein, a practicing Jew who Breitbart.com and their fellow travelers falsely call an atheist, the lawmakers mostly suggested that his argument that the displays are unconstitutional is flawed.

“The Establishment Clause exists to ensure that the government cannot affirmatively impose or elevate one religion over another. However, it does not prohibit the government from referencing religion altogether, nor does it require that the government scrubs all reference of religion from the public square. Rather, the Establishment Clause ensures both that the government does not show preference to a certain religion, and the government does not take away one’s ability to practice religion.”

“Similarly, the Establishment Clause does not require that you remove Bibles from the Missing Man Table displays. The mere presence of a Bible coerces no one.”

To that end, they also contended that the Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that “an Establishment Clause violation is not made out any time a person experiences a sense of affront from the expression of contrary views.”

The letter was reportedly rustled up by Congressional Prayer Caucus leaders Rep. [crscore]Randy Forbes[/crscore] and Senator [crscore]James Lankford[/crscore].

It was also signed by [crscore]Marco Rubio[/crscore], five other Republican senators and 29 congressman, including Rep. [crscore]Doug Collins[/crscore], who previously accused Weinstein of an anti-Christian crusade and assault on religious freedom for demanding the Bibles be expunged.

Meanwhile, in yet another fascinating example of non-partisan journalistic sloth—as opposed to the typical liberal bias emboldened by laziness that usually produces skewed coverage, Hill reporter Tim Devaney did a short item on the letter but omitted Cruz’s role and did not ask Weinstein to respond.

Weinstein told the Friendly Atheist blog on Saturday that the letter signatories are “spiritual rapists” throwing “red meat” to constituents as they trolled for votes this election year is not “even worthy to wipe one’s ass with.”

Weinstein, a registered Republican and veteran of both the Air Force and Reagan White House, also argued that even if a Bible could be permitted at a normal government display military installations are different because the Supreme Court has ruled armed forces personnel can enjoy less First Amendment protections than the general public.

Evan Gahr

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel