MILITARY SERVICE MEMBERS DESERVE CONTINUED RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION PROTECTION

SERVICE MEMBERS DESERVE RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION FREEDOM

ALEXANDRIA, VA: Since undertaking the current Global War on Terror initiated by the attacks of Islamic Terrorists on September 11, 2001, news stories have circulated from time to time regarding our military service members exercising their constitutionally guaranteed rights to peacefully and unashamedly conduct acts of personal religious expression without governmental interference.

As President Obama’s administration moves full steam ahead and rapidly implements their plans for “change” in America, the Catholic War Veterans of the U.S.A. would like to remind our Commander in Chief, members of Congress, and those commissioned and non-commissioned officers overseeing our great military, that the duties of their office not only include preserving the physical well-being of their troops, but ensuring that their social and spiritual welfare is equally guarded. In issuing this reminder, The Catholic War Veterans of the U.S.A. certainly understand the needs of local unit commanders during wartime to ask service members to delay or curtail their acts of religious expression in order to successfully complete their combat and support missions, however, this practice should be the exception and never the rule.

Military service members who are citizens of our nation and who are held by oath to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution should not be forced by their leaders, regardless of the cultural or geo-political climate where their military operations take place, to give up the same constitutional rights each citizen here in our homeland enjoys.

The Catholic War Veterans of the U.S.A. stand in solidarity with all U.S. military service members and veterans, regardless of their location, as they hold to their personal religious beliefs and undertake their constitutionally protected acts of peaceful religious expression.

Founded in 1935, the Catholic War Veterans of the United States of America, Inc. is the preeminent national veterans service organization representing the Catholic military veterans of our nation. The CWV is the only Catholic organization to have been granted an official charter by the U.S. Congress.

The CWV is a private, non-profit organization recognized by the Internal Revenue Service under IRC 501(c)4. Web Site at Catholic War Veterans of the U.S.A.