Fox News’ Fake News: Pro-Trump Network Airs Fake VA Bible Story
Liberty Institute Chief of Staff Mike Berry‘s VA “Bible in a Box” Story is False
First Liberty Institute Chief of Staff Mike Berry propagated a false narrative about the Manchester Veterans Administration Medical Center’s “Bible in a Box” during an appearance on Fox News. In an appearance on Fox & Friends, Berry — a professional proponent of what he terms “religious liberty” — claimed that a World War II veteran’s Bible was carried with him during his ordeal of being imprisoned in a German POW camp. The Bible lies at the center of a constitutional controversy, as it seemingly flouts the federal prohibition of the government privileging one religion over another.
“Missing Man Table”
World War II vet Herman “Herk” Streitberger Bible sits padlocked in a plexiglass box on a “Missing Man Table” situated across from pictures of President Donald Trump and Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie in the main foyer of the MVAMC. The truth is, the now-100 year-old vet did not carry it with him at any point during his WWII military service.
The Bible in a Box was given to “Herk” by his mother after he returned home.
The MIA/POW war memorial featuring Herk’s Bible triggered a lawsuit filed by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, claiming it violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit, in turn, triggered a change in policy about religious displays at Veterans Health Administration facilities.
The local MVAMC leadership had removed the Bible from the war memorial several hours after it was contacted by the MRFF. Subsequently, Herk’s Bible was all but bolted to the Missing Man Table after the Department of Veterans Affairs in Washington stepped in.
According to the MRFF website:
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) is dedicated to ensuring that all members of the United States Armed Forces fully receive the Constitutional guarantee of religious freedom to which they and all Americans are entitled by virtue of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Over 60,000 active duty, veteran, and civilian personnel of the United States Armed Forces, including individuals involved in High School JROTC around the nation, have come to our foundation for redress and assistance in resolving or alerting the public to their civil rights grievances, with hundreds more contacting MRFF each day. 96% of them are Christians themselves.
FAKE NEWS
During a May 2019 interview with Caleb Parker on Fox & Friends, First Liberty Institute Chief of Staff Mike Berry said, “For crying out loud, this was a 95-year-old POW who donated his own Bible to help others remember that the Bible represents faith and that the strength gained through faith in order to survive that horrific experience.”
“But in addition to that, it’s historic,” Parker said, “’cause it was with him when he was being held hostage, ah, captive.”
“That’s right,” Mike Berry replied. “This is a historical artifact. That’s why you see in the photo that it’s actually in a plexiglass case because it is such a great historical artifact of such great personal value.”
The story is untrue. As revealed in a story on Manchesterinklink.com and later by the New Hampshire Sunday News, the Bible was not with Herk Streitberger during his ordeal as a POW; it was given to him by his mother after the war. And the Bible is not held in a plexiglass box shutting it off from public inspection because it was an historic artifact.
After complaints relayed to the MVAMC by the MRFF led to it being temporarily removed from the MIA/POW war memorial, it was put in the padlocked box upon its return. That was because Northeast MIA/Network Bob “Doc” Jones, according to an earlier Manchesterinklink article written by Carol Robidoux, “…[planned] to build a clear box of some kind that attaches to the table to protect the Bible once it’s back in place.”
That plexiglass box has the name “HERK” incised into it, and it topped by a large padlock. Some veterans are offended by the large padlock on the Bible Box, as it seems to be a political statement, that the freedom of the Bible is threatened by “atheist” activists.
Fox News communicated the canard that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation is an “atheist group” by terming it as such on its website, and then refusing demand rom the MRFF to correct the canard. In fact, 96% of the MRFF members identify as Christian, and the lead litigant in the lawsuit, former Air Force pilot James Chamberlain, is a devout Christian.
