Navy Reverses Course—Orders Lodges to Put Removed Bibles Back in Rooms

Teresa Neumann : Aug 15, 2014
Travis J. Tritten - Stars and Strips

"A Bible in a hotel room is no more illegal than a chaplain in the military. They are there for those who want them. It's perfectly constitutional and legal to allow the Gideons to provide, at their own expense, this source of comfort for service men and women of faith." -Chaplain Col. Ron Crews

(Washington, DC)—Following outrage, and the cheers of atheists, that the US Navy had banned Bibles from its Navy lodges in June, the military has now reversed its decision. (Photo: Petty Officer 3rd Class Matthew Smalls reads a Bible in 2008/US NAVY)

According to a report in Stars and Stripes, complaints about the presence of Bibles in the Lodges was originally prompted by the Freedom from Religious Foundation. The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty reportedly called the subsequent ban an act of censorship and criticized the Navy for bending to atheist's agendas.

Said Navy spokesman Commander Ryan Perry, "That decision [to ban Bibles from the Lodges] and our religious accommodation policies with regard to the placement of religious materials are under review. While that review is under way, religious materials removed from Navy Lodge rooms will be returned."