source:
Jason Torpy, president of an agency seeking to remove Bibles from individual guest rooms at military lodging facilities, said he was pleased -- at least for the moment -- with an Air Force concession to remove a reference to Bibles from its lodging checklist.
He said he had no immediate plan to seek actual removal of Bibles.
Air Force Services Agency spokesman Michael Dickerson said the decision did not mean the Air Force had agreed to remove Bibles placed by the Gideons from individual rooms.
"No one is directing innkeepers to do anything," Dickerson told The Patriot in April. "There is no directive. All we've done is remove one item from a 1,200-item checklist."
The issue came to the forefront when Torpy and the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers said including Bibles in guest rooms at Air Force lodging facilities represented a "special privilege for Christianity."
Torpy told The Patriot that at least two issues are involved. One is what he called an "official regulatory privilege for Christianity over all other religions."
He said Air Force had done the right thing and removed that requirement.
The second involves the actions of individual innkeepers.
"That's a separate question," Torpy told The Patriot. "We've taken the systematic requirement out. Now, there may be an opportunity for harder discussion of what gives them the right to decide to put Bibles in every bedside table."
However, going after innkeepers would not be an immediate initiative, Torpy indicated.
"I think they're wrong, but it's not high on my priority list," he said. "I'm not saying it's ok, but there are a lot of things I care about."
He said MAAF had put the Air Force on notice that this issue was being watched.
"Hopefully, Air Force lodging managers will do the right thing, provide a hotel experience and stop allowing their lodging to be used for proselytizing," Torpy stressed. "That's misuse of government resources. If they have Bibles in a reading room along with lots of other books, that's one thing but not in individual rooms."
He said he understood what gives private hoteliers such as Marriott the right to offer access to Bibles in their rooms.
"It's a private corporation," Torpy noted. "They're Mormon anyway, so they put the New Testament and the Book of Mormon in there. They're using their private corporation to spread the word. The Air Force is a different organization altogether."
Dickerson emphasized that no promise to remove Bibles has been made to MAAF.
"We communicated a legal opinion that there is no requirement (to have Bibles in the rooms)," he told The Patriot in April. "The only thing communicated to them was that the (Bible) question would be removed from the checklist. That's it."
Read more: The Warner Robins Patriot - Atheist group has no immediate plan to go after Air Force innkeepers over Bibles
He said he had no immediate plan to seek actual removal of Bibles.
Air Force Services Agency spokesman Michael Dickerson said the decision did not mean the Air Force had agreed to remove Bibles placed by the Gideons from individual rooms.
"No one is directing innkeepers to do anything," Dickerson told The Patriot in April. "There is no directive. All we've done is remove one item from a 1,200-item checklist."
The issue came to the forefront when Torpy and the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers said including Bibles in guest rooms at Air Force lodging facilities represented a "special privilege for Christianity."
Torpy told The Patriot that at least two issues are involved. One is what he called an "official regulatory privilege for Christianity over all other religions."
He said Air Force had done the right thing and removed that requirement.
The second involves the actions of individual innkeepers.
"That's a separate question," Torpy told The Patriot. "We've taken the systematic requirement out. Now, there may be an opportunity for harder discussion of what gives them the right to decide to put Bibles in every bedside table."
However, going after innkeepers would not be an immediate initiative, Torpy indicated.
"I think they're wrong, but it's not high on my priority list," he said. "I'm not saying it's ok, but there are a lot of things I care about."
He said MAAF had put the Air Force on notice that this issue was being watched.
"Hopefully, Air Force lodging managers will do the right thing, provide a hotel experience and stop allowing their lodging to be used for proselytizing," Torpy stressed. "That's misuse of government resources. If they have Bibles in a reading room along with lots of other books, that's one thing but not in individual rooms."
He said he understood what gives private hoteliers such as Marriott the right to offer access to Bibles in their rooms.
"It's a private corporation," Torpy noted. "They're Mormon anyway, so they put the New Testament and the Book of Mormon in there. They're using their private corporation to spread the word. The Air Force is a different organization altogether."
Dickerson emphasized that no promise to remove Bibles has been made to MAAF.
"We communicated a legal opinion that there is no requirement (to have Bibles in the rooms)," he told The Patriot in April. "The only thing communicated to them was that the (Bible) question would be removed from the checklist. That's it."
Read more: The Warner Robins Patriot - Atheist group has no immediate plan to go after Air Force innkeepers over Bibles
0 comments:
Post a Comment