Christian Bookstore Reinstated at VA Hospitals

A woman in Illinois, Felicia W., contacted us regarding a concessionaire agreement that her Christian bookstore has entered with the Veterans Canteen Service (VCS).  The Bookstore has served as a vendor of Bibles, books, CDs, and gift items for a variety of VA hospitals through a concessionaire agreement with the VCS. The VCS provides veterans at VA hospitals and their families with reasonably priced merchandise to further their well-being. The VCS also enters concessionaire agreements with vendors, such as the Bookstore, that hold two-day sales events to offer unique products that are not otherwise available to veterans. Concessionaire vendors set up tables in the lobby or auditorium of the VA hospital to make themselves easily accessible to the patients whom they serve.

The Bookstore was scheduled to appear at the Madison, Wisconsin VA hospital for two days on April 9th and 10th. Like numerous other vendors that have operated at the Madison VA Hospital from time to time, the Bookstore had items available for sale placed on a table in the lobby and had flyers posted in the hospital advertising the Bookstores items for sale. On April 9, the positive response to the Bookstore was overwhelming and the day went very well. On April 10, however, Felicia was told that the Bookstore had to shut down immediately. Apparently, one person at the Madison VA Hospital was offended by the Bookstores presence as a concessionaire vendor in the hospital lobby. The offended person contacted the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which then complained to the Madison VA Hospitals associate director. In response, Felicia was informed that she could no longer operate as a concessionaire due to the separation of church and state and/or an unspecified VA or VCS policy that prohibited contracting with religious vendors.

We wrote a letter to the national director of the VCS requesting that the Bookstore be reinstated as a concessionaire and that any VA or VCS policies authorizing discrimination against the Bookstore due to the religious content of its merchandise be provided to us. Our letter explained that we were unable to locate any statute, regulation, directive, policy, or manual that would prohibit the Bookstore from providing merchandise in VA hospitals. We also explained that, if such a policy existed, it would likely violate the First Amendment and/or executive orders that seek to eliminate discrimination against faith-based organizations in federal programs. The letter noted that a fear of violating the separation of church and state prompted by FFRFs complaint was unfounded because the VCS does not unconstitutionally endorse religion by simply allowing vendors of religious merchandise to enter concessionaire agreements on the same terms and conditions as other vendors.

On May 7, 2008, we received a letter from the national director of the VCS stating: We have reviewed VCS policies and have found no prohibition against sale of religiously-oriented merchandise. Consequently, we will reinstate the Bookstores concession contract immediately. The letter also stated that the national VCS office will contact the Bookstore directly to ensure that future sales events are scheduled. Felicia was very pleased with this result. We will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that the Bookstore will not experience any further problems serving as a VCS concessionaire.