The gift shop at the VA Medical Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico has become a battleground over religious liberty. The “Patriot Shop” had erected an Easter-themed display featuring storybooks and bunny rabbits and chocolate eggs.
But the table also included Bibles and that was a problem for a notorious anti-religion group. “That display of Christian bibles and associated Christian reading materials completely violated the time, place, and manner restrictions of the VA’s own regulations as well as the No Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights and its construing Federal caselaw,” said Mikey Weinstein, the founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
The MRFF noted Wednesday that it managed to convince leaders at the Raymond G. Murphy Veterans Administration Medical Center in Albuquerque to remove a display of Bibles and related Christian reading materials on “prominent display” in its Patriot Store facility on the first floor of the main medical building.
The MRFF said 10 employees and patients — seven of whom “identify as avid practitioners of the Christian faith” — complained and reached out to MRFF “for help regarding the unconstitutionality of that sectarian Christian literature display; especially as it was juxtaposed right next to an otherwise non-objectionable display of ‘secular-ish’ chocolate Easter bunnies, related holiday candy. and Easter bunny cutouts, et al.”
According to MRFF, the displayed Bibles “completely violated the time, place, and manner restrictions of the VA’s own regulations as well as the No Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights and its construing Federal caselaw.” The Bibles and other religious items were gone within 24 hours of the request, the MRFF added while praising the VA’s quick actions.
