Wiccan sign allowed on soldier's plaque

[deadparrot]

RENO, Nev. - The widow of a soldier killed in Afghanistan won state approval Wednesday to place a Wiccan religious symbol on his memorial plaque, something the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had refused.

"I'm honored and ecstatic. I've been waiting a year for this," Roberta Stewart said from her home in Fernley, about 30 miles east of Reno.

Sgt. Patrick Stewart, 34, was killed in Afghanistan last September when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his helicopter. Four others also died. Stewart was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

He was a follower of the Wiccan religion, which the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs does not recognize and therefore prohibits on veterans' headstones in national cemeteries.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_on_re_us/wiccan_soldier

[VegasWolf]

1. Good. Only in AmeriKKKa would this even be an issue. nt

[kestrel91316]

3. Welllllll, truth be told, Saudi Arabia or Iran probably

wouldn't go along with it either.

But it's a shame we rank with them im intolerance.

[VegasWolf]

7. Exactly, all the ?democratic? societies! nt

[BattyDem]

2. It's about time!

:patriot:

[Kiouni]

4. what religions do they recognize?

if i wanted the golden arches inverted on my tombstone then by god it should be done!

[Shipwack]

8. They allow quite a few, though no arches as of yet...

A whole bunch I had never heard of before, either, and I've always considered myself fairly well informed. I don't mean to belittle anyone's religion, but I would have thought there were more Wiccans in the US than, say, members of the "Tenrikyo Church", or "Eckankar"...

Here's a link to an article describing all the available symbols...

[Kiouni]

11. really cool

thanks.

[SeattleVet]

10. There's a list and images at the VA web site

here:

http://www.cem.va.gov/cem/hm/hmemb.asp

[rodeodance]

5. she fought 'city hall' and she won. Good for her.

[donsu]

26. ditto - glad she won

nt

[Copperred]

6. Great news!!!!

As a noun, paganus was used to mean "country dweller, villager."

[HuffleClaw]

9. so far as i 'm concerned if someone wanted to put a SWASTIKA on

their tombstone they should be able to. they gave their LIFE for their nation. a nation that calls itself the 'land of the free' has no business dictating such things.

[plasticsundance]

17. Except for ... uh ... maybe WWII veterans

Uh ... whatta ya think?

[HuffleClaw]

38. well, it was more hyperbole than anything

i doubt it would happen.

[Cerridwen]

12. Oh, thank the God/desses! :D

This is great news!

[TacticalPeek]

13. Hallelujah!

;)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

14. Congrats to my Wiccan friends...

And to Mrs Stewart... :hug:
Rest in peace, Sgt Stewart :patriot:

[intaglio]

15. Won't Fred Phelps be pissed =D n/t

[hippiechick]

16. Who let a goddamn commie hippie Pagan into the Army anyway ?

I can hear it now: "Doesn't the military know those ... loopy liberal nature types ... won't fight for Amerikkka, they're a bunch of sissie tree huggers! His parents are probably French!"

Ugh. :eyes:

[Vidar]

18. Good for her.

[Marrah_G]

19. This is...

The best news I've heard in a long time (actually brings tears to my eyes). Wiccans and Pagans serve with courage and honor. There should have never been a problem with this. The Military chaplians handbook covers Wicca, seems reasonable to have our main symbol allowed on our soldiers gravestones.

[Jo March]

21. It's true that the Chaplain's handbook covers Wicca which is why this

was a bit confusing to me.

When I was in the Army, there was a large number of Wiccans serving with me. If anyone is willing to serve and die for this country, then their religious symbols should be honored as well.

This is great news for the soldier and his family. :patriot: :woohoo:

[Recursion]

23. Yeah, the number of wiccans and buddhists surprised me, frankly

My platoon of 40 Marines was roughly half protestant, about 10 muslims, and 5 each of wiccan and buddhist (I know this because I made the dog tags; in my religion field I put "Platonist" just to get in a final joke to the chaplain if I got popped). No Catholics or Jews, which seemed odd to me. Luck of the draw I guess.

[Jo March]

31. Yeah, it was like that in my platoon, too

Thank you for your service, dmesg! :patriot:

[Lerkfish]

20. I'm glad

woohoo!

[Recursion]

22. About damn time!

RIP, Sgt.; finally the country respects you enough admit that you believed what you believed in.

:patriot:

[noonwitch]

24. I'm glad that it has been resolved.

Everyone who dies serving his or her country should get to have a symbol of his or her religion on the gravestone in a military cemetary. It's only fair. Except maybe satanists-they have the right to practice their religion under the 1st amendment as long as they don't break any laws (like sacrificing animals or people), but we as a society don't need to condone the worship of evil, whether one believes there is a devil or not.

[Bridget Burke]

32. What's wrong with sacrificing animals?

Unless you're vegetarian, that is.

[Solon]

39. Where do you get that Satanists sacrifice animals?

Sorry, a pet peeve, mostly because people make the same mistake about Wiccans, but, to clarify, there are 3 basic types of Satanists, The Church of Satan(Anton Szandor LaVey is the founder), which are basically agnostics who became famous for mocking the Catholic Church's Mass with the "Black Mass". I think of them as the Church Ayn Rand would have preferred. The Temple of Set(breakaway from Church of Satan), who believe that the Egyptian God Set equates with the Biblical Satan, but don't really believe he is evil, odd but harmless. Not to be confused with Kemetic Reconstructionists, who try to reconstruct the old rituals and religion of the Ancient Egyptians, with some modern sensibilities(no animal sacrifice, confine the sacrifices to plants instead).

In fact, both of these religions are more like philosphies, thought the Temple of Set is more magical in their thinking. They are extremely individualistic, believing that people should follow their own path to enlightenment. The Church of Satan, for example, doesn't WORSHIP Satan as an entity, but rather they like the symbol of Satan as a personification of human wants and needs. They also exalt life itself up on a pedastal, and take a dim view on anyone who would snuff out such life rather prematurely. I've known a few Church of Satan followers who are vegetarians for this reason, though this isn't universal.

Then there are the "Hollywood" Satanists, those who never cracked open the Satanic Bible, nor even heard of either of the religions above and simply hang out in cemeteries, and sometimes, on Halloween or around then, will kill a cat or something equally cruel. Their "Theology", if you could call it that, is mostly confined to the silver screen and the TV. Mostly sadistic teenagers who think its cool to do what they do. Not to be confused with Goths, as Goths run the gambit in religious following, I've known Goths that went to church religiously, pardon the pun, and others that were "Strong" Atheists.

Speaking of Animal Sacrifice, I believe many Santerians serve in the military, and they actually DO sacrifice animals. Granted, unlike what most people think, its mostly chickens, and is actually similar to Kosher preparation for food that is practiced by Jewish butchers. Basically they prepare the animal for consumption, but mix religious rituals in with it, as long as they follow health codes, its perfectly legal in this country.

Also one last note, all these religions are not only protected by the First Amendment, but also are mentioned in the Military Chaplain's handbook. Sorry I got into such a long post, just that, as a Wiccan, who already has to defend my own religion against defamation all the time, I hate the fact that others are defamed in the same manner.

[noonwitch]

41. I heard that satanists sacrifice animals from satanists

I am not trashing Wicca, I know a great deal about it, having practiced it myself for over a decade. I also know that most Wiccans do not recognize the existence of Satan, nor do I, then or now as a liberal christian.

However, Satan, as an archetype or symbol, is the personification of evil, and evil exists. I'm not saying that they don't have the right to practice their religion, but they don't have the right to sacrifice animals, the way they do it. It's different from Santeria-the satanists I'm familiar with steal people's pets or take stray cats off the street and sacrifice them. There are a whole lot of satanists (like the Manson family, and gangs of bored, unsupervised, delinquent teenagers) out there who have nothing to do with Anton Levay or the Temple of Set (by the way, wasn't there a big child molestation scandal involving the Temple of Set a couple of decades back?).

When I meet people who claim to be satanists, I do give them a hard time. I tell them I don't believe in Satan's existence, but that I do believe evil exists. I ask them why they would want to waste their time and energy on the pursuit of evil goals.

I know there is a lot of hysteria out there about satanism. I'm not commenting on allegations of large satanic cults who allegedly are infiltrating day care centers and ritually abusing children. I'm talking about self-professed satanists that I have met over the years.

[Solon]

42. Sounds like teenagers that were BSing you...

seriously, who would really brag about that stuff? Sounds like some was trying to impress you, or scare you, one or the other, doesn't matter. I mean, I know people who have been cruel to animals, but then again, they were "Good" Christians.

Also, another misconception, the COS and Temple of Set believe in a Pre-Christian concept of Satan, which is decidedly NOT evil, in fact, look in the Book of Job for an example of Yahweh's Prosecutor. In the Bible, at least, Satan was a title for the Angel responsible in testing mortals so that they worship Yahweh, it wasn't until the New Testament that that job changed, radically. I mean, if you get technical, Christians worship Satan's boss, I guess the concept of worshipping the lesser of two evils comes into play here.

Look at the body count in the Bible, Yahweh, several thousand killed by his hand, Satan, so far, one "tested" at Yahweh's behest, and another tempted to turn away from Yahweh(even though he was Yahweh's son!). Hmmm....

Then again, I'm being a tad bit snarky here. :)

[LibertyLover]

25. I am very happy for Mrs. Stewart

that her husband's religion will be honored, however, this does nothing for any Wiccan not living in Nevada. The decision by Nevada is not binding on the VA as a whole and so nothing has changed on the national front. The VA has not approved the pentacle for use on grave markers in cemetaries it controls and not added it to their short list of 38 or so approved symbols.

As for the poster who asked about swastikas, actually, yes, a version could be put on a grave marker. If you look at approved symbols on the VA website, the Seicho-no-ie symbol contains what is referred to as a right-facing swastika (as opposed to the left-facing that was adopted by the Nazis). Both left and right facing swastikas are found in Buddhist, Hindu and many other cultures prior to the 20th century.

[Marrah_G]

27. one step at a time

Every small victory is a movement in the right direction. Sometimes the wheels of change move more slowly then one would like.

[orleans]

28. glad to hear it.

i hope there are no future problems

(the article also says: ""The VA still has not determined yet if a Wiccan symbol can go on the headstone," said Tim Tetz, executive director of the Nevada Office of Veterans Services. "But we have determined we control the state cemetery and that we therefore have the ability to recognize him for his service to his country."")

[Chovexani]

29. About fucking time. (n/t)

[treestar]

30. From when comes the idea that the VA has the power to "recognize"

or "not recognize" a religion?

[Spacemom]

33. I'm so glad to hear this

It's a shame this should even be an issue in our country. :(

[newspeak]

34. BLESSED BE!!!!!!

:-)

[underpants]

35. THANK GOD

08)

[Ilsa]

36. Good for him and his family, and good for the USA! nt

[Jim Lane]

37. WAIT, this celebration is premature

The Department of Veterans Affairs has not relented in its refusal to authorize Wiccan symbols on headstones. All that happened was that the Attorney General of Nevada opined that, because Sgt. Stewart was buried in a state cemetery, the State of Nevada could approve the plaque that his widow wanted placed on the Veterans Memorial Wall.

That's good news for the Stewart family but it doesn't mean an end to the nationwide anti-Wiccan policy of the VA in federal military cemeteries. This development benefits only Wiccan veterans in Nevada.

At one point, Americans United for Separation of Church and State was threatening to sue the VA if the policy weren't changed. I hope they go ahead with the case. Apparently nothing short of a court order will induce the VA to honor veterans' religious freedom.

[CanonRay]

40. Blessed Be!

[bamacrat]

43. Good.