WASHINGTON — The Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter Wednesday to the Department of Veterans Affairs offering constitutional analysis of the tradition of a flag-folding recitation banned by the National Cemetery Administration. An unnamed individual lodged a complaint over religious aspects of the ceremony. The ceremony honoring fallen American soldiers is traditionally held during funeral services where the folded flag is handed to the veteran’s family.
Reportedly, Vice President Dick Cheney announced Thursday that the flag-folding recitation will be allowed to continue.
“No one is dishonored when the meaning of the folds are recited in remembrance of a fallen veteran. Everyone is dishonored when VA honor guards are banned from reciting it at veterans’ funerals,” said ADF Senior Counsel Joe Infranco. “It is highly unfortunate that the decades-long disinformation campaign by secularists has intimidated government agencies into banning even our most revered traditions for fear that one atheist may be offended by references to God.”
The flag-folding recitation consists of 13 folds of an American flag, and each fold has a distinct symbolic meaning. The 11th fold recognizes and honors the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
“ADF has informed the VA that the tradition of reciting the meaning of the folds is perfectly constitutional,” said Infranco. “There is no need to prohibit VA-sponsored honor guards from continuing this tradition in honor of those who fought and gave their lives for the very constitutional freedoms now under attack by one so-called ‘offended observer.’ ADF stands ready to defend the tradition that honors fallen American soldiers and their families.”
In the letter, ADF attorneys offered to help VA officials draft a policy to protect the tradition of flag-folding recitations, in accordance with constitutional law. A copy of the letter can be read at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/FlagFoldingRecitationLetter.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
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