Ridiculous Item of the Day: One Complaint Leads to Change in Military Funeral Procedure
You know that all measure of sanity has flown out the proverbial window and that PC has run amok when a single complaint can change the way millions of Americans honor their deceased loved ones in the military. That is the story today that the office of Veteran's Affairs has determined that God may not be referenced in the flag ceremony at the end of a soldier's funeral.According to Family News in Focus, 125 national cemeteries can no longer honor military veterans families with a flag-folding recitation ceremony because one person complained that the ritual mentions God. Thousands of military families request the recitation ceremony for deceased loved ones. It's considered an unofficial but meaningful way for families to honor a soldier's sacrifice. But the recitations were banned by the VA until further notice because, as Rees Lloyd with the Defense of Veterans Memorials Project of the American Legion puts it, "One disgruntled narcissist has caused a complete ban affecting 300-million Americans honor our war-dead and our comrades, veterans and we think its an outrage and we intend to fight it." [crosswalk]There are many things that Christians call "outrageous" that I choose not to join in on the fight. Things like the public display of the Ten Commandments, prayer in public schools, etc. Now, to be clear, I'm not against those things being legal, I just don't think they are worth fighting over. I think we often dishonor Christ in the way we respond to these things. After all, prayer in public schools cannot be out-lawed. It is only the public kind of prayer that Jesus was arguably against that has been banned (Matthew 6:5-6). The way He taught us to pray cannot be banned in any public place and, ironically, will actually flourish with more and more freedoms being eroded. It's like the bumper sticker says, "As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in public schools."
I don't want to digress here. My point is that there is much to be outraged about with the fact that the name of God cannot be evoked at the funeral of a veteran. It's absolutely absurd. What outrages me more is that ONE person changed the whole procedure. One, solitary, complaint.
I focus on this because that will be the downfall of this Republic. In a democracy, the majority (for good or ill) is supposed to rule. Yet our government officials are listening to one voice (which, as it turns out, is always the anti-Christian one) and banning, in the name of tolerance, something the majority of Americans are for in favor of. That is absolutely ludicrous because in one stroke of the pen, these bureaucrats have demonstrated intolerance to the majority of Americans. That, I just do not get.
So, I am outraged. I do not fear that these actions can or will somehow remove God from America. It is blasphemy to suggest man's meager actions could move a sovereign, almighty God in even the most minute way. He will do whatever He wishes and be wherever He desires. Certainly, our actions can lead to Him choosing to remove His hand of blessing (which I'm not certain has not already occurred), but God's wisdom and grace always supersede our actions and faithfulness. He will not abandon His chosen, even if all freedoms are stripped and persecution becomes the norm in this Country. It should, though, cause us grief to see injustice on all levels and undue burdens placed on families of those who already have paid a heavy price in service to this Nation, all because, somehow, the one has become mightier than the many.
Labels: Christianity, culture, David C. Price, God, politics, religion
posted by DAVID C. PRICE at 10/31/2007 09:48:00 AM
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