Establishment Clause Claim Against Veteran's Affairs Department Survives

Last week, in Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Nicholson, (WD WI, Sept. 5, 2006), a Wisconsin federal district court denied a motion to dismiss an Establishment Clause lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs brought by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. The suit challenges the VA's integration of chaplain services into patient medical care. Each VA medical center patient is given a spiritual and pastoral care screening to determine whether to offer pastoral care for a "spiritual injury or sickness". The court held that the language in the VA's spiritual assessment form that links a patient's spiritual health to his or her physical health could demonstrate that the VA impermissibly favors religion over non-religion by sending a message to non-religious veterans that they might not recover fully if they do not believe that spirituality plays an important role in their treatment. It may also impermissibly entangle government and religion. The holding permits the parties to present evidence so the court can determine whether or not the VA chaplaincy program is unconstitutional or is instead an appropriate accommodation of Free Exercise rights of patients. (See prior related posting.)