Why not make a military ceremony with a recital without religious content, and if so whished by the members of family or as per knowledge of the deceased religious beliefs. From there you could tailor the ceremony to that person. That would be the most respectfull thing.
It would obviously much more dificult to the military, but they could do their part and the family could have a minister, raby, mullah, just their speech to give as well.

You should not (cannot? under the law) deprive or impose a belief on anyone. Be it a belief that there is no God, that the the God is the jewish God, the christian God, Are-Krishna, whatever...
Eduardo Dourado | 10.27.07 - 10:27 am | #

From Cassie in my email:

The VA is doing a disservice to Veterans & their families.
This person is from CA I don't need to go any further.
It's the Soldier who defends our freedoms, but yet
even though they are honored in every way possible by President Bush
we can still see that words alone by anyone is not enough for this
Veterans widow. Veterans should get the respect of a grateful nation not
some person with an agenda..
I'm fed up with the VA. What good are they to our Veterans and they're families?
Our Veterans defended us, sacrificed for us, went through hell for us, and some died for us.
Along comes some jerk who wants to take the respect that is rightfully our
Veterans and throw it in the wind.
There is no excuse for this nor is there an excuse for the VA. To
ban the Flag Folding Recitation is disrespectful not only to the Veteran but
to the family.
All Veterans & their families should be outraged over this. For all of you
deserve the respect & honor that our nation can give to a great group of heroes.
They fought for us, now it's time that we fight for them.
And this is for all of you in the military past & present-
We love you, respect you and are very grateful to you.
"It's the land of the Free
Because of the Brave".
God Bless all.

Cassie
Spree | Homepage | 10.27.07 - 3:21 pm | #