A Department of Veterans Affairs policy that resulted in the banning of Bibles in some VA hospital chapels has been revised, The Daily Signal is reporting.
The policy shift came after several incidents in which individual VA hospitals had also banned Christmas carols and a Christmas tree.
And VA Secretary Robert Wilkie recalled visiting a chapel at a North Carolina VA hospital and realized there were no Bibles available.
"I was in my hometown," he told The Daily Signal. "We have a beautiful chapel in the old VA hospital. And I walked in and there were no Bibles. It had been stripped of the symbols of religion."
Now, the VA is permitting religious literature, symbols, and displays at agency facilities, The Daily Signal noted.
"The move aims to simplify and clarify the department's policies governing religious symbols and spiritual and pastoral care, which have been interpreted inconsistently at various VA facilities in recent years, resulting in unfortunate incidents that interrupted certain displays," the VA said in a statement.
The changes went into effect July 3 and are aimed at ensuring "that patrons within VA have access to religious literature and symbols at chapels as requested and protect representations of faith in publicly accessible displays at facilities throughout the department," the statement added.
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