Christmas Cards From School Children To Veterans Denied Delivery

So much for the spirit of the season! Students at a school in Texas made Christmas cards for injured vets at a V.A. hospital, however a V.A. official told the school that nothing with "Merry Christmas," "God Bless You" or other religious statements could be given to the vets.

Students at a private elementary school in North Texas made Christmas cards for injured veterans at a local V.A. hospital.

When the cards were set to be delivered, a V.A. official told the teacher who organized the effort that nothing with "Merry Christmas," "God Bless You" or other religious statements could be given to veterans.

"This wasn't the country I grew up in, when you couldn't say ‘Merry Christmas,' you couldn't say ‘God bless you' or reference any scripture," said a mother of one of the students.

The V.A. explained its policy in a statement:

"In order to be respectful of our Veterans religious beliefs, all donated holiday cards are reviewed by a multi-disciplinary team of staff led by Chaplaincy services and determined if they are appropriate (non-religious) to freely distribute to patients. After the review is complete, the holiday cards that reference religious and/or secular tones are then distributed by Chaplaincy Service on a one-on-one basis if the patient agrees to the religious reference in the holiday card donation. The holiday cards that do not contain religious and/or secular tones are distributed freely to patients across the Health Care System. We regret this process was not fully explained to this group and apologize for any misunderstanding."