Let us pray over this situation and the light of Jesus be shown!
The Patrick Air Force Base in Brevard County, Fla., is currently embroiled in controversy after a Bible honoring missing soldiers and prisoners of war was removed from one of the base’s dining halls earlier this month.
The Bible was a part of a “Missing Man Table,” a tradition in the U.S. Armed Forces meant to honor servicemen who did not return from combat, either because they are missing or prisoners of war. The vacant table is set up in some Armed Forces’ dining halls in the U.S., and includes a plain white table cloth, an inverted glass, a single red rose, a yellow ribbon, a candle, a plate with lemon and salt, and a Bible.
The purpose of the Bible is to “[represent] the strength gained through faith to sustain those lost from our country, founded as one nation under God,” according to the Air Force Chiefs website.
Family Research Council pointed out the irony of the controversy.
“Of particular irony is the fact that this reversal of a long history of including such memorials in dining halls occurred at the same installation where the Department of Defense’s equal opportunity agency – the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute – is housed,” FRC said. “DEOMI is tasked with training military Equal Opportunity (EO) advisers on how to instill respect and tolerance for diverse viewpoints in service members. Apparently, that respect and tolerance isn’t supposed to extend to religious speech or the ability of an organization to recognize the role religious faith has played in the lives of many service members.”
According to Florida Today, a dispute over the Bible’s presence at the Missing Man Table at Patrick Air Force Base’s Riverside Dining Facility caused commanders to remove the table from the dining hall. Authorities at the Air Force Base then released a statement to the local media outlet late last week saying that the table would return to the dining facility, although they were unclear if the Bible would be a part of the Missing Man display.
