VA May Not Require Memorial Day Invocation At National Cemetery To Be Non-Denominational

In Rainey v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, (SD TX, May 26, 2011), a Texas federal district court issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Department of Veterans Affairs from regulating the content of the invocation and benediction that are to be delivered at a Memorial Day ceremony in Houston's National Cemetery.  The annual ceremony is put on by a charitable organization.  The director of the National Cemetery required ministers to deliver the text of their prayers in advance to assure that the prayers are non-denominational and inclusive of all beliefs. Invoking that policy, the Veterans Affairs Department told Rev. Scott Rainey that he could not deliver his invocation if he did not remove references to Jesus and to his religious beliefs. Rainey sued.  In a rather colorful opinion, the court wrote that the government cannot gag a citizen in the name of "some bureaucrat's notion of cultural homogeneity." The court went on:

The government's compulsion of a program's inclusion or exclusion of a particular religion offends the Constitution. The Constitution does not confide to the government the authority to compel emptiness in a prayer, where a prayer belongs. The gray mandarins of the national government are decreeing how citizens honor their veterans....

These people say that remarks need to be content-neutral messages. The men buried in the cemetery fought for their fellow Americans-- for us. In those fights, they were served by chaplains, chaplains of two faiths and many denominations.... No deputy general counsel of the Department of Veterans Affairs was in the Ia Drang Valley....

The government cannot realistically speak for the religious sensibilities of the numerous and varied people of America, even if it were constitutional for it to try. It is for them to speak for themselves as when the President asked Rick Warren to speak for him in Jesus' name at his inauguration. Americans are free-- free to read, write, talk, and pray without permission from George III or other governmental power.

The Houston Chronicle reported on the decision yesterday. [Thanks to Kate Shellnutt for the lead.]

UPDATE: The Houston Chronicle reported Friday that the Department of Veterans' Affairs has informed the court that it will no longer raise an objection to Rev. Rainey's planned invocation. [Thanks to Don Byrd for the update lead.]