As reported at FoxNews, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein recently celebrated the fact a Veterans Affairs clinic removed a Gideon’s Bible from its waiting room:

Weinstein, a fussy little man with a strong aversion to our Lord, said the Bible’s placement in the waiting room was “illicit and unconstitutional.”…

“The Athens CBOC is unsure how this came into the clinic but it has been removed,” Associate Chief Adam Jackson wrote to Weinstein.

In reality, if a Bible on a stack of old magazines is the only thing Weinstein can find to complain about, things can’t be that bad, can they?

Or, perhaps they are bad — for him — and his fundraising has suffered from the lack of publicity.

Ultimately, there’s nothing that requires a Bible to be on that table — but there’s equally nothing that prevents it from being there, as retired US Army Chaplain (Col) Ron Crews accurately noted:

“There is nothing wrong with a Bible being left in the waiting room along with other reading materials,” Crews told me. “If someone doesn’t want to look at the Bible, they don’t have to look at it. But it can be there for someone who may want to look at it and may find it helpful in a time of crisis.”

Unfortunately, Weinstein’s “victory” — however petty — shouldn’t be surprising. There are certainly individuals — both in uniform and not — who will either bow to his demands or even actively support his agenda.

Weinstein explained his logic on the complaint, and it revealed how much his bigotry has blinded him to reality [unique Weinstein formatting original, sic throughout]:

…having the bible in that VA waiting room means it is being officially sanctioned by the VA…..such display violates the time, place and manner restrictions of the No Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as well as VA’s own regulations…if it was a non-gov’t hospital, NO prob…but t’s not….simple as that, bro…thx for reaching out…Mikey W.

Having any reading material — magazines included — on a waiting room table does not mean it is “officially sanctioned.” That Weinstein would come to that conclusion — and that conclusion only for the Bible — reveals his personal attack on the Bible, not the defense of a principle or ideal. As far as “time, place and manner,” the book was on a pile of other reading material and was marked by a private organization, so there appears to be no issue there, either — or with the First Amendment.

How about those mysteriously restrictive “VA regulations”? They’ll have to remain mysterious, since Weinstein conveniently doesn’t cite them. Given how averse Weinstein is to telling the truth, his unsubstantiated accusation shouldn’t be given any credit.

The last time Weinstein had such “success” with a local VA clinic, the VA had to publish policy guidelines describing how Weinstein was wrong (and the VA clinic had been wrong to accede to him). Maybe its time for another conversation with VA leaders.

May we look forward to the day that more people understand and respect religious liberty — and don’t surrender to the religious bigotry of Mikey Weinstein.

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