Gen Boykin on Memorial Day and the Missing Man Table
Just prior to Memorial Day retired LtGen William “Jerry” Boykin wrote a column in the Washington Times entitled “Rolling Thunder, ‘Missing Man’ tables and the Bible.” Rolling Thunder is the annual arrival in Washington, DC, or thousands of motorcyclists at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Gen Boykin notes Rolling Thunder also supports Missing Man or POW/MIA Tables around the country — something certain government agencies have actually made more difficult.
After noting the traditional makeup fo the POW/MIA table, Boykin said:
Bibles have been removed at certain U.S. military installations and Veterans Administration facilities…Wright-Patterson and Eglin U.S. Air Force bases both removed Bibles from their POW/MIA displays due to complaints by atheist groups claiming that the Bible was a violation of the constitutional principle of separation of church and state.
Likewise, the VA hospital facilities in Akron and Youngstown, Ohio did the same for identical reasons. Worse still, Patrick AFB removed the entire display due to similar motives in 2014.
Boykin then accused the VA and the military of “kowtowing” to cowards:
America has been at war since 2001 fighting a determined enemy across the globe. Yet there are those in this nation who view Bibles as the enemy: something to be kept at arm’s length for fear of the damage to our warriors that might result from exposure to it. That’s ridiculous — if our military men and women cannot deal with a Bible in a public place, it is highly unlikely they will ever prevail over a serious foe…
The VA and the military should be ashamed for kowtowing to the foolish demands of groups who are far less concerned with national security than they are with pushing their nefarious agendas. Leaders without courage or a fundamental understanding of the U.S. Constitution have made the decision to remove Bibles from these POW/MIA displays, and they need to be held accountable for their behavior.
Though unnamed in the article, Michael “Mikey” Weinstein is the coward who was largely responsible for demanding the removal of Bibles from public view. He “won” a spate of complaints in early 2016, but for the most part faded away after he had exhausted his list of friendly locations. For the most part, Weinstein has been silent this year, save a couple of attempts to manufacture outrage, and he has fallen out of public view.
And, in his absence, POW/MIA tables have once again honored those captured and missing as a result of their sacrifice to our Nation.
ADVERTISEMENT
The military mission is to defend our nation against its enemies – not promote a religion. The sworn military service oath is to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States…and bear true faith and allegiance to the same” – not to any religion or its writings. The Constitution prohibits our secular government or its representatives (which includes the military) from promoting a religion. The Department of Defense, for example, acknowledges our independence of belief by publishing an official list of recognized religions for the military that includes 221 different faith groups.
@BG Compere, Retired
You might try looking up “non sequitur“. Then again, given how often it applies to you, you likely know exactly what it is.
Humorously, you don’t seem to see the self-contradiction in that sentence.
“There are none so blind as those that will not see.”
Fortunately, Mr. Compere, there are at least 15,000 active duty officers who are Christian, and they are actively fighting bigots like you.
You are a disgrace to the Uniform.
Now I see why Weinstein cannot win a case in court. He has people like BG Compere (ret) advising him.
My advice to BG Compere (ret) is this: enjoy your Army retirement Sir, and please leave the legal advise to lawyers that understand the Constitution, and actually win in court, unlike the MRFF.