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."
