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Military Prohibits Gulf Soldiers From Receiving Bibles;
ACLU Denounces Policies As "Fundamentally Offensive"

For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 1990

  In a telegram sent today to Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney,
the American Civil Liberties Union today denounced the federal
government's decision to prohibit soldiers in the Gulf from
receiving Bibles or religious objects from their families. The
ACLU also criticized the government's decision to prohibit the
mailing of other materials to our forces.

  These policies, the telegram said, "are fundamentally offensive
to our basic constitutional traditions and indicate a disturbing
willingness by our government to sacrifice the First Amendment
rights of its fighting forces."

  Ira Glasser, the ACLU's Executive Director, requested that the
government clarify and revise its policies "to reflect the
principles of freedom that we have been told are at stake in this
endeavor."

  A copy of the telegram follows.