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Walter Reed Bible Ban Overturned
Posted by Randy | December 09, 2011
"No religious items (ie: Bibles, reading material, and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit."

Those words were included in a memo issued September 14 by Walter Reed Medical Center, one of our nation’s primary medical facilities for thousands of wounded military men and women.  

The policy was brought to the attention of my colleagues and me, along with valid concerns that family members or pastors would not be able to bring Bibles or other religious materials to visit their wounded sons or daughters or husbands and wives. My colleague Rep. Steve King pointed out that “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.”

Our troops have risked their lives for our freedoms and liberties - including our religious liberties. To deny them this freedom when they return home is deplorable.

This week, I hosted a meeting with officials from Walter Reed regarding the policy. The officials said that the policy was not properly vetted and has been rescinded. The following apology has been posted on their website:

We are in the process of rewriting our policy and would like to offer the following statement:

Bibles and other religious materials have always been and will remain available for patient use at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The visitation policy as written was incorrect and should have been more thoroughly reviewed before its release. It has been rescinded. We apologize for any confusion the policy may have caused.

Please know that at admission, all patients are asked for their religious preference and a chaplain associated with their preference visits them regularly to provide spiritual services. In addition, their families may also bring religious material and we will not refuse any religious group entrance.

WRNMMC provides multiple venues at WRMNMC for religious expression and worship. There is daily Catholic Mass as well as Protestant, Hindu, and Muslim services. Eucharist is also available at the bedside. There are weekly Torah studies, multiple weekly Christian bible studies, as well as weekly Qur'an study. Furthermore, chaplains coordinate spiritual needs for those whose faith groups are not represented by staff chaplains (such as Latter-Day Saints, Buddhist, and Christian Scientist).

Walter Reed National Military Medical Center remains committed to supporting the religious preferences of all our patients and we will continue to ensure their spiritual needs are met.

I have requested background information about the policy, how it was implemented without proper vetting, and what forces were behind its implementation. Additionally, Rep. Steve King was featured on Fox and Friends this week to discuss the situation. You can view his comments here.
Comments
Users are solely responsible for the opinions they post here and their comments do not necessarily reflect the views of Congressman Forbes.
  • Thomas G commented on 12/9/2011
    Uh - Why are you doing nothing to urge the republican leadership to vote on the President's Jobs Act?
  • Mary W commented on 12/18/2011
    Thank you so much, Congressman Forbes, for standing up for the majority of Americans who are growing weary of affronts on our freedom of expressions of our faith. With overwhelming historical precedent and law to back you, we encourage you to continue to stand and be bold in representing our voice in Washington. Our hope is that your stand will encourage like-minded congressmen and congresswomen to join you, realizing that there are many more who agree with your support of traditional American values than the miniscule vocal majority who do not. Thank you again - we wish you were running for President. Merry Christmas~
  • Paul Downes commented on 3/15/2012
    I was astounded by the implimentation of this "Memo" , without question by the "Chain of Command" without question. Could it be it was questioned, with a resopnse of "March On!"? I agree that the initiating individual be identified and held accountable. Even Prisoners are allowed these items that someone tried to deny our Troops!! The excuse that the Policy was not "propertly vetted" is a feeble attempt to cover the tracks of someone high in the CoC. "No religious items (ie: Bibles, reading material, and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit." is clear and to the point!! This "Policy" was initiated and sighned by someone!!!!
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