Another Bible Attacked for Being Part of a POW/MIA Display—This Time at Naval Operational Support Center (NOSC) Alameda

Guess what? Another group of hypersensitive folks has apparently been shocked to find a “sectarian Christian Bible”—yes, the one with two Testaments—hiding in plain sight in a POW/MIA memorial at Naval Operational Support Center (NOSC) Alameda. And the very same cast of characters who are perpetually offended by seeing religious items displayed on government property have raised the alarm about—to use their words—yet another “imperious act of fundamentalist Christian supremacy, exclusivity, exceptionalism, and domination.”

So what does this display “of fundamentalist Christian supremacy, exclusivity, exceptionalism, and domination” look like? The following photo of the NOSC Alameda display was submitted with the complaint about the presence of the Bible.

According to the National League of POW/MIA Families, each of the items in the display symbolizes some aspect of the POW/MIA experience. The white cloth symbolizes “the purity of the[] motives” of those “answering the call to serve.” The rose is a reminder of the lives of the missing Americans, “and their loved ones and friends who keep the faith, while seeking answers.” The lemon slice is a reminder of “their bitter fate, captured and missing in a foreign land.” The “pinch of salt symbolizes the tears of our missing and their families.” The Bible represents “the strength gained through faith to sustain us and those lost from our country, founded as one nation under God.” The inverted glass represents the missing person’s “inability to share a toast,” and the empty chair reminds us “they are missing.”

The Bible is simply one of a number of objects used to convey the message of the display. That is significant because the Supreme Court of the United States has upheld the constitutionality of government displays that include religious components. In Lynch v. Donnelly, for example, the Court upheld the constitutionality of a holiday display that included a government-erected manger scene because it was a part of a larger holiday display which included a variety of secular symbols, which is exactly like the POW/MIA display at issue here.

In examining government displays which include religious objects, courts generally hold that so long as the religious elements of the display are part of a larger expression such that the primary effect of the entire display is secular, the display is constitutional.

Moreover, the passive presence of a Bible in the NOSC Alameda display is an even easier case to justify legally. The manger scene approved in Lynch was present to convey a distinctly Christian message—to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ—whereas the Bible in the POW/MIA display was not there to convey a Christian message at all, but to symbolize “the strength gained through faith to sustain us and those lost from our country, founded as one nation under God.” The Supreme Court in Lynch found that a distinctly Christian display conveying a distinctly Christian message was constitutional when part of a display with secular items. So is a Bible in a POW/MIA display when it is only one of a number of secular items in the display and is not there to convey a distinctly Christian message. Accordingly, complaints about displaying the Bible as part of a larger display dominated by secular items are legally dubious.

Finally, as the Supreme Court held in Lamb’s Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School District (a case argued by ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow), “The principle that has emerged from our cases ‘is that the First Amendment forbids the government to regulate speech in ways that favor some viewpoints or ideas at the expense of others.’” That includes favoring secular viewpoints over religious viewpoints—or vice versa. To single out the only religious item in the NOSC Alameda POW/MIA display for criticism/removal, as those complaining about the Bible have done, is to favor the secular over the non-secular, thereby violating the very Establishment Clause they claim to be upholding.

We have sent a detailed legal letter to the commanding officer of NOSC Alameda to inform him of what the law actually allows—as opposed to what opponents of the Bible’s presence in the display claim it allows—and to offer him our assistance should he so desire.

As we face increasing “wokeness” throughout our society, it is incumbent for us at the ACLJ to stand tall and to counter the nonsense such persons not only profess but also seek to foist upon us all.

We ask you to stand with the ACLJ to protect our God-given liberties from those who seek to shout us down and shut us up. The truth is that we are one people under God. Our forefathers fought and bled that we might enjoy our freedom, and it behooves us to stand and be counted to protect those liberties for our children and grandchildren.