Written by Don Byrd
Last week, I posted about an order by the U.S. Navy Exchange Central Command to centralize the process of accepting religious materials for its Navy Lodge guest rooms. The order added a deadline for removing items including Bibles currently in the rooms.
Now the Navy has overturned that decision, pending a review of policy. Stars and Stripes reports:
Atheists had cheered a victory after a complaint prompted the exchange to begin moving the Bibles to its lost-and-found bins this summer, but the Navy said the decision was made without consulting senior leadership.
“That decision and our religious accommodation policies with regard to the placement of religious materials are under review,” Navy spokesman Cmdr. Ryan Perry wrote in an email to Stars and Stripes. “While that review is under way, religious materials removed from Navy Lodge rooms will be returned.”
According to the Navy Times, there are 40 such lodges in 16 states and 5 countries. They “offer discounted hotel rooms for active, reserve and retired sailors and their families.”
