July 4 Protesters Call for Resignation of Houston Cemetery Director

A few hundred protesters gathered at Houston's National Cemetery yesterday to express outrage over allegations that the director of the facility, which is run by the US Department of Veterans Affairs, prohibited volunteers from invoking the name of God at burial services. The claim is the subject of a recently filed lawsuit.

The Houston Area Pastor Council planned Monday's protest in support of a federal lawsuit filed by the nonprofit Liberty Institute on behalf of American Legion Post 586, Veterans of Foreign Wars District 4, and National Memorial Ladies, a volunteer group that attends burials at the cemetery.

The suit accuses U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs officials and Houston National Cemetery director Arleen Ocasio of banning members of these groups from invoking the names of "God" or "Jesus" at burials, and forbidding the recitation of religious messages unless the deceased's family submits the text to her for approval.

…VA officials, however, say the names of God and Jesus are not only allowed during interments, they are freely spoken at national cemeteries across the country.

"We cherish the religious freedoms our Veterans secured for us," Steve Muro, VA's Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs, said in a statement published online Friday. "At all VA national cemeteries, families are free to choose and use the burial rites and rituals that are meaningful or sacred to them. … Families are equally free to have a service without religious references."

The Houston Chronicle has pictures of the event here.