Navy Announces Plans to Put Bibles Back In Military Hotels

The Navy announced Friday that it would reverse its previously-established ban and allow Bibles to be placed in military hotels. The Bibles had been previously removed from military lodges after receiving pressure from an atheist group.

The Navy Exchange, the group that runs nationwide military base lodges, had initially ordered Bibles be removed from all military lodges after receiving a complaint from the Freedom From Religion Foundation in June. The Bibles were removed, but Navy spokesman Cmdr. Ryan Perry announced this week that the decision to remove the Holy Books was done without consulting senior leadership, and therefore the issue had to be further investigated. In the meantime, the Bibles will be returned to their base lodges.

"That decision and our religious accommodation policies with regard to the placement of religious materials are under review," Cmdr. Perry said in a statement Thursday. "While that review is under way, religious materials removed from Navy Lodge rooms will be returned."

Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, said in a statement that his organization is thrilled at the Navy's decision to put the Bibles back in military lodges. Wildmon added that his group had received countless emails by those protesting the Bibles' initial removal.

"We must be alert to what the secularists are doing inside the military," Wildmon told Todd Starnes of Fox News on Friday. "But this reversal proves that those who believe in religious freedom can make a difference when we take action."

Ron Crews, executive director of the Chaplain Alliance For Religious Liberty, added in a statement that he finds it "tiresome to see senior military leaders needlessly cave in to activist groups offended by anything Christian."