[Dave Urbanski | The Blaze] An 84-year-old veteran’s widow is being threatened with eviction from the California Veterans Home if she continues to host Bible studies for fellow residents, according to the Pacific Justice Institute.
The Institute — a legal outfit that defends religious freedom — said it received a March 1 email from an attorney with the California Department of Veterans Affairs saying Artis Breau’s Bible studies violate prior directives and would result in her “involuntary discharge” from the Home in Yountville if they continued.
PJI added that the “Home claims it needs to protect residents from this elderly widow, even though attendance at her Bible studies is entirely voluntary” and that Breau said the “real issue is that she is an evangelical Jewish believer in Jesus, which does not sit well with some of the chaplains.”
What’s the background, according to PJI?
The Institute said Breau and her late husband moved to the Veterans Home about nine years ago and that he served as a Merchant Marine in World War II, as well as overseas in the 82nd Airborne Division and with the Air Force during the Korean War. Breau worked as a civilian employee in the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army at the Pentagon during the Korean War, PJI said.
At the Home, Breau has volunteered with the chaplaincy program and led Bible studies, and the Institute noted that trouble began for her with officials last September over a claim that “a discussion between herself and another resident about heaven and hell had allegedly caused him to lose sleep and therefore was elder abuse, emotional abuse, and otherwise illegal.”
More from PJI:
In mid-December, the Home notified Artis that her volunteer status was being suspended indefinitely due to the ongoing investigation. Nearly three months later, CalVet has yet to schedule an interview with Artis about the alleged complaint; yet she remains barred from volunteering in any official role. However, until this past week she had been permitted to continue leading Bible studies for some of the Home’s most elderly and mobility-challenged residents—many of whom cannot get to chapel services.
And then PJI said it received the March 1 email from the CalVet attorney threatening Breau with eviction unless the Bible studies stopped.
[Editor’s Note: This article was written by Dave Urbanski and originally published at The Blaze. Title changed by P&P.]
