A Bible donated by a World War II veteran on display in a Manchester VA Medical Center memorial is being targeted by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. (Office of Public Affairs, Manchester VA Medical Center via AP)
A Bible at the center of a dispute between two military organizations will now be displayed prominently at a veterans hospital.
The Bible was donated to Manchester VA Medical Center by former U.S. Army Air Corps Technical Sergeant (TSgt) Herman "Herk" Streitburger, of Bedford, who was held captive in a German Prisoner of War camp during World War II.
It was placed in a memorial but moved after objections by Mikey Weinstein, the founder of Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). The Bible ended up behind a glass display case.
First Liberty Institute, the same law firm that argued on behalf of the Bladensburg "Peace Cross" memorial in front of the Supreme Court last week, sent a letter Wednesday supporting the Bible.
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"As usual Mikey Weinstein is wrong on the fact and wrong on the law but that’s never stopped him from bullying military and VA officials and their facilities across the country," Mike Berry, the First Liberty lawyer representing the Northeast POW/MIA Network, told Fox News. "If he wants to remove that display or any part of it he’s going to have to come through us."
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In this photo provided by the Office of Public Affairs, Manchester VA Medical Center, a Bible is displayed at the Manchester VA Medical Center in Manchester, N.H. Two organizations are fighting over the display of the Bible at the medical center. The Bible was carried by a prisoner of war in World War II and became part of a memorial and was later removed after the Military Religious Freedom Foundation objected. WMUR-TV reports another group, the Northeast POW-MIA Network, wants to put it back. (Office of Public Affairs, Manchester VA Medical Center via AP)
Berry said VA policy clearly permits a Bible to be on display.
"They’re there to cause people to reflect and honor those who were held captive and remember those who were missing," Berry said. "For someone like Mikey Weinstein or any other group to try to desecrate or remove any display, it’s a slap in the face to veterans who’ve served."
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VA officials said they "consulted with appropriate legal counsel before placing the WWII artifact, which happens to be a Bible, with the display and is confident that this does not impinge on Constitutional protections."
But Weinstein disagrees.
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"That is still a Christian Bible," Weinstein said. "It is still promoting -- particularly in the surrounding aspect of the POW-MIA remembrance, one of the most sacred things you could do in the military -- one faith over another faith."
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