The Northeast POW/MIA Network is an organization with the goal to “heighten public awareness to the plight of American Prisoners of War and Missing in Action.” As part of this mission, this group sets up displays with physical reminders that are meant to cause visitors, patients, and employees to pause, reflect, and remember those who are prisoners of war and who are still missing in action. The group currently has a display at the Manchester VA Medical Center in New Hampshire that has recently come under attack because it includes a donated Bible.
Since the Vietnam War, our nation has maintained the sacred tradition of setting a separate table in countless Department of Defense and VA facilities to honor POW/MIAs. The table is decorated with several items, each carrying symbolic meaning used to help remember those who were captured or declared missing. A 2016 Veterans Administration memo states that when a VA facility permits a POW/MIA Remembrance Table, it must “remain neutral regarding the views expressed by the group, to include the use of any religious or secular items in the display.”
At the Manchester VA Medical Center, the NE POW/MIA Network donated such a display. A local WWII veteran and former prisoner of war in Germany, Hank Streitburger, donated a Bible to be included in the display.
It was then that the outside activist group, Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), sent a letter to the hospital claiming it is unconstitutional for the Bible to be included in such displays.
Though MRFF claims the display of a Bible is illegal, VA policy says that as long as the facility director approves, outside groups are welcome to put up or maintain a display just like this, including displays of religious content. First Liberty sent a letter encouraging the VA to abide by its current policy, and remember the service and sacrifice of Prisoners of War such as Hank Streitburger.
“If outside activists want to desecrate this POW/MIA display they will have to come through us,” says Mike Berry, First Liberty Institute’s Chief of Staff and Director of Military Affairs.
In May 2019, a local activist, with the help of MRFF, filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the display.
Until early July 2019, VA policy guidance delegated the discretion to authorize such displays to individual VA facility directors, leaving it possible for some VA facilities to authorize POW/MIA remembrance displays that include Bibles and some not. But after First Liberty Institute urged Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie to issue a policy applicable to all VA facilities that permits the inclusion of a Bible in POW/MIA remembrance displays, the VA announced directives “permitting religious literature, symbols and displays at VA facilities to protect religious liberty for Veterans and families while ensuring inclusivity and non-discrimination.”
“This new VA policy is a welcome breath of fresh air,” Berry said.
In the meantime, a federal judge in New Hampshire allowed First Liberty to intervene in the case on behalf of the Northeast POW/MIA Network to defend the display of Herk’s Bible against MRFF’s attack.
Then in February 2022, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit.
“The Bible stays and our veterans win,” said Michael Berry, Director of Military Affairs for First Liberty Institute. “We are pleased with the dismissal of this lawsuit. Public officials across the nation must ignore the empty threats of anti-religion organizations using fear and intimidation to purge religious symbols from the public square. First Liberty is honored to stand with the Northeast POW/MIA Network in its tireless efforts to honor and remember our nation’s heroes. If anyone tries to threaten this POW/MIA Remembrance Table, they’re going to have to go through us.”
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/latest-attack-on-pow-mia-religious-symbol-is-cruel
https://www.lifezette.com/2017/03/defense-prayer-america-military-bases/
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/leave-pow-remembrance-tables-alone
News Release
For Immediate Release: 2.24.22
Contact: Lacey McNiel, media@firstliberty.org
Direct: 972-941-4453
Lawsuit Against Inclusion of Bible on POW/MIA Remembrance Table at New Hampshire VA Hospital Dismissed
First Liberty Institute represents veterans organization that owns and maintains display at Manchester, New Hampshire VA Medical Center
Concord, NH—A federal court yesterday dismissed a lawsuit brought against the Manchester Veterans Affairs Medical Center (MVAMC). The lawsuit was brought against the MVAMC because it allowed the Northeast POW/MIA Network, a private organization and First Liberty Institute client, to display a POW/MIA Remembrance Table that includes a Bible.
“The Bible stays and our veterans win,” said Michael Berry, Director of Military Affairs for First Liberty Institute. “We are pleased with the dismissal of this lawsuit. Public officials across the nation must ignore the empty threats of anti-religion organizations using fear and intimidation to purge religious symbols from the public square. First Liberty is honored to stand with the Northeast POW/MIA Network in its tireless efforts to honor and remember our nation’s heroes. If anyone tries to threaten this POW/MIA Remembrance Table, they’re going to have to go through us.”
A local veteran, supported by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), filed the lawsuit in 2019. The lawsuit claimed that by allowing a private display to include a Bible at the medical center, the VA had violated the First Amendment’s prohibition on the “establishment of religion.” First Liberty, joined by attorneys with Nutter, McClennen & Fish LLP, and Orr & Reno, argued that because the display was owned and operated by a private organization, it was private speech, and therefore protected by the First Amendment.
In July 2019, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it updated and clarified its policies “permitting religious literature, symbols and displays at VA facilities to protect religious liberty for Veterans and families while ensuring inclusivity and nondiscrimination” after First Liberty sent a letter urging the VA to issue such a clarification.
The Bible included in the display at the MVAMC was donated by former U.S. Army Air Corps Technical Sergeant (TSgt) Herman “Herk” Streitburger, of Bedford, NH, who was held captive in a German Prisoner of War camp during World War II.
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About First Liberty Institute
First Liberty Institute is a non-profit public interest law firm and the largest legal organization in the nation dedicated exclusively to defending religious freedom for all Americans.
To arrange an interview, contact Lacey McNiel at media@firstliberty.org or by calling 972-941-4453.
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