Update: More than 20,000 people signed a petition in less than 24 hours to “help end the ban” on Bibles at Walter Reed.

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A US Army officer “in disbelief” forwarded a Walter Reed National Military Medical Center memorandum regarding patient visitation to the Family Research Council.  The memorandum said:

f. No religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading material, and/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit.

The ban was so broadly written it would prevent even families from providing Bibles to their wounded family members, and it banned priests from bringing the eucharist or providing last rites.  Notably, while the policy banned all religious items, the Bible was the only religious text specifically mentioned.

The FRC circulated the memorandum at Capitol Hill, and Rep Steve King (R-Iowa) took to the House floor and “blasted” the policy:

Mr. Speaker, these military men and women who are recovering at Walter Reed and Bethesda have given their all for America…They’ve Read more