Last July the WaPo had a story about the Bush Administration’s insult to fallen soldier, Sgt. Patrick D. Stewart, who was Wiccan. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs refused to allow the pentacle symbol to be placed on the memorial marker, osetensibly because some fundie there heard “Wicca” and had visions of witches on brooms, warlocks casting spells, demon worship and all kinds of BS — nevermind that 38 other religions are recognized and acknowledged on the memorial markers for fallen soldiers’ graves.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit against the VA, and today a settlement was reached because — surprise — Bush is a religious bigot…
Americans United’s attorneys uncovered evidence that the VA’s refusal to recognize the Pentacle was motivated by bias toward the Wiccan faith. President George W. Bush, when he was governor of Texas, had opposed the right of Wiccans to meet at a military base in that state. Bush’s opinion of Wiccans was taken into consideration when making decisions on whether to approve the Pentacle.Blogger Deborah Lipp, who has been following this case, said:…”It is rank hypocrisy for this administration to claim publicly that it cares about religious freedom and equality but then to quietly and deliberately discriminate against a minority faith like Wicca,” [Ayesha N. Khan, AU legal director] said. “Until now, this administration’s view has been that Wiccans are good enough to fight for their country, but not good enough to be acknowledged with a proper headstone.”
Under the terms of the Circle Sanctuary v. Nicholson settlement, the federal government will recognize the right of Wiccans to have the pentacle made available as an emblem of belief for inscription on headstones, grave markers and memorial plaques. The VA will add the symbol to its list of available emblems of belief.
This settlement happened because of the persistence of Roberta Stewart, widow of slain Iraqi war veteran Patrick Stewart, and of Selena Fox, Circle Sanctuary, and of thousands of Pagans who wrote letters, signed petitions, blogged, and more. They all deserve enormous praise. I hope Ms. Stewart rests easier tonight.Believe it or not, the Freepi are on board with this…see after the flip.
Good for them. They fought for our country, there’s no reason not to bury them under the symbol of the faith that they’ve chosen.
But you know what? If you have died in the service of your country I figure you have earned the right to have what ever you want on your tombstone.
Whatever they want is fine by me.
Whatever they want is fine by me too. I have my own salvation to worry about.
The only people who will care are the families and friends of the fallen soldiers. Though I might disagree with their beliefs, I salute their sacrifice to their country.
Agreed. We should honor their sacrifice in whatever manner their families wish.
Die for this country, and you have earned the right to put just about anything you want on your headstone.
VA idiots. This should have been settled a long time ago. If you can put Wiccan on your dog tags, you can have a Wiccan symbol on your headstone.
Thank God! (Yes, I see the irony here)…
Why is this a problem? Not all of us bow to Jesus or Allah, you know.
Agreed. If our government allows Wiccans to serve in our military they should be allowed to have their symbol on their headstones.
If a man is good enough to die for his country, he deserves to have his faith respected in this one, final gesture.
How silly. The term “Wiccan” is a made-up word, but is supposed to be an “ancient” variant of the word “witch” in Middle English. So if “Wicca” has any meaning it refers to the pre-Christian pagan beliefs of English. In that pre-Christian milieu the “pentacle” was not a known symbol. It was introduced in the south of France in the 1300s by Christians who were playing at alchemy using symbols they found in Hebrew texts - and these symbols were not associated with pagan magic, but with the numerology of Kabbalah. The symbol has absolutely no ties to the mythical nature paganism that “Wicca” supposedly is.
Hmmmm, I’m sure the Cult of the Huge Phallus will have a neat design.
That all may be true and still be utterly irrelevant in this case. In the eyes of a secular government, all faiths should be treated equally.
Put whatever you want on your loved one’s tombstone, but enough with the “ancient, historic symbolism� of a religion that was made up in London less than a century ago.
“They fought for our country, there’s no reason not to bury them under the symbol of the faith that they’ve chosen.�
Agreed. This is American. They’ve fought for the right to believe any way we — or they — choose. It’s very sad this was the choice, but…
Frankly I don’t care if they want a Hula Girl or a #3 inscribed on their tombstone. If they died in the service of their country then their wished should be honored.
If this hero believed in it, if it was his faith, than it is every bit as legitimate as Christianity when it comes to recognizing his faith on his grave. I personally think that Scientology is a silly religion, but I would never be so crass as to say so to the grieving family of a military hero who wanted that symbol on his gravestone. All faiths were once new, after all. The important thing is honoring the wishes of our dead soldiers, not nitpicking those wishes.
H/t, Shakes Sis.
30 Responses to “Bush Administration finally allows Wiccan pentacle on veteran memorials”
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Where are the freepers on this?
Where are the freepers? Probably getting ready to deface those pentacle-marked stones.
GWB could come out and announce that the pentacle is the new presidential seal and the freepers would be talking about how great and decisive he is, it’s about time, it’s a symbol with a long history, and it truly represents the fight for truth and freedom.
The Kool Aid - she is poisoned…
I met Selena Fox back in ‘85. Cool lady. She’s been fighting this battle forever, it seems.
Hooray for Roberta Stewart!
Ask and you shall receive. Freeper quotes added to the post — they are actually in agreement with the settlement.
Well, I never thought I’d say this but, good for the Freepers.
[…] Sadly, the amount of folks who don’t understand this is not limited to the meaner portions of the East Tennessee conservative bloggers. Check this story. Finally, Wiccans who serve and die for their country will be able to have a pentacle, an important religious symbol to them, on their gravestones. […]
They’re in approval?
This is stunning given their reaction to Sgt. Alva last week.
Hypocrisy has no consistency. Sigh.
About damned time.
Wow, the Freepers have really stood in good stead this time. Credit given where credit’s due.
I was really quite angry when I saw my father’s headstone at the vetrans cemetary. We specifically requested that they NOT put any religous symbol on it, but aparently some good christian decided it should have a cross on it instead. Of course they’re not going to fix their screw up or anything…
Wow. I am now forced to reevaluate my assessment of the freepers’ basic human feeling.
I’m actually glad I was wrong about their reaction: it gives me some hope.
Oh, crap, I’m in agreement with the Freepers about something? I need to go check my extraplanar weather report. I hear it’s snowing in Hades.
As far as the decision itself goes…I’m very glad for it, but I have a problem with the notion of any religious symbol requiring “approval” for placement on a military headstone. It’s uncomfortably close to law respecting an establishment of religion, or preventing the free exercise thereof.
Well, good on the Freepers, i say.
A cynical fellow might say, “Why they’re such reasonable people, all you have to do to get their basic respect and common decency is to give your life.”
But I’m not such a cynical fellow. The sun is shining in Michigan. Birds are singing. The Lions are going to draft a future all pro this weekend, so I’ll just say:
Baby steps.
Oh, I’m an ass.
More importantly, bravo to Roberta Stewart and co. for fighting the good fight.
Man, you know you’re a bigot when the Freepers think you’ve gone too far.
Did hell just freeze over? I can hardly believe Freepers supporting the rights of a minority that they aren’t members of.
Unreal
Good on the Freepi. Now, how do we go about getting them to adopt the same “if you’re good enough to die for our country…” attitude about DADT?
Remember, they’re talking about soldiers here. To them, anything a soldier does is A-OK … except running for office as a Democrat, of course.
Good on the Freepi. Now, how do we go about getting them to adopt the same “if you’re good enough to die for our country…� attitude about DADT?
No, no, it’s not the same, you know. Don’t you know? It’s okay if you worship Satan, because the Good Lord will save us all. But as you know, the danger traditional families face from the homosexual conspiracy to subvert normal urges and make peversion “normal” is much more of a danger to us.
ps. i really NEED to learn HTML
I posted a comment under “Melaka” *trying* to use HTML, but I messed up.
can anybody just PLeASE post me what html tags to use and how to use them?
here is what i need
blockquoute
underline
bold
italics
that’s all i wnat to know!!!
Melaka, you’re in luck:
http://pandagon.net/2007/04/12/how-to-write-good-html-version/
Good post, Pam, and it’s always nice to see non-Pagans standing up for the rights of any Pagan. (Not all Pagans are Wiccan, so not all Pagans use the pentacle, but that’s a discussion for another day and really irrelevant to the point at hand.)
There is one point that you missed, one that just about everyone I’ve seen commenting on this very good news has missed. What the plaintiffs had to give up in order to get what they wanted. According to what I’ve read, there was one thing that the VA demanded . . . documents. My guess is that those documents were the ones that demonstrated anti-Wiccan bias on the part of the Administration and the fact that the VA was acting on that bias. There are other issues out there (e.g., the Wiccan chaplain who was removed from the Chaplain’s service after becoming a Wiccan), and while those incidents may not directly deal with the VA, I would imagine those documents would have been a useful investigatory starting point (presuming some sort of legal action were taken). They’re not accessible any more. Not the end of the world of course, and knowing there might be relevant documents out there is still a decent starting point, but it would have been easier to have the starting point in hand.
Now, I’m not questioning the decision made by Circle Sanctuary on behalf of and (I would imagine) with Mrs. Stewart. She had her battle to fight, and it wouldn’t be fair for anyone to expect her to fight other folks battles as well. Gods know it must have taken phenomenal strength for her to make it through the ordeal she has already had to endure.
I just think it’s interesting and potentially instructive that the one demand the VA would not let go of was for documents.
There’s a chapter in one of the early Michael Moore books in which he visits a milita group, and they tell him off for how the lefties alienated them in the 60s and 70s — when they could easily have been allies in the struggle. I don’t remember the details, but it was entirely reasonable, cogent, and convincing.
We’ve allowed the reichwing, through their takeover of the media and exploitation of evangelical Christians (many of whom are entirely decent, well-meaning people in most respects), to convince far too many on both the rignt and the middle that “elitist liberals,” “big government,” and “politically correct secular humanism” are their enemies. It was a masterpiece of the classic divide-and-conquer tactic.
The reality, of course, is that the real economic elite — the shareholder, rentier class and the corporatocracy — are the enemies of all of us, together.
And if we have leaders who can manage to convey these realities to broad enough audiences, it might just be possible for us all to take our country back from the cabal that have stolen and/or destroyed it. (Obama? Edwards? Never Hillary, of course…)
If we and the FReepi can agree on something like this, who knows what might be possible? Hope springs eternal…
One thing not mentioned in the article is that in the settlement the government agreed to pay $225,000 in attorney’s fees to the plaintiffs. Yes our tax dollars are being spent because our government road blocked a simple request that should have been no brainer to grant.
The sun is shining in Michigan. Birds are singing. The Lions are going to draft a future all pro this weekend,
and trade him to the team he’ll lead to three Super Bowls after spending one season on the bench in Detroit?
(Sorry, I understand the desire for positive thinking, but, c’mon, the Lions?)
There’s a chapter in one of the early Michael Moore books in which he visits a milita group, and they tell him off for how the lefties alienated them in the 60s and 70s — when they could easily have been allies in the struggle. I don’t remember the details, but it was entirely reasonable, cogent, and convincing.
It’s from “Downsize This!” Money quote, from an interview with Michigan Militia commander Norm Olson:
(My answer would probably begin with “where were you in the sixties, seventies and eighties, when we needed your help?”, but I’m in one of those moods today.)
This just proves that when most Christians talk about religious freedom, they’re talking about Christian domination.
I work at a prison, and there’s a concerted effort on the part of some of the chaplains and property staff to stymie the Wiccans, Pagans, and, to some degree, Native Americans/Indians in their efforts to worship. It’s absolutely disgusting to see state employees doing all they can to keep some herbs and even the product catalogs out of the hands of non-Christians while every Christian who wants to visit and praise the lord almost gets the run of the place.
A bunch of inmates whose religious leanings seem to be a combination of Dungeons and Dragons, voodoo, Thor comics, and heavy metal satanism are so scary that for them to get an herb catalog into the prison it would be a dangerous affront to the secure operations of the institution. At least that’s what the memo said.
The NAFTAization of the Democratic Party is a betrayal that’s well-remembered by a lot of people in the Midwest. Now, those are probably a lot of the same people who were voting for Reagan and Nixon (or Wallace) because of their dislike of, as they put it in Michigan ‘Detroit,’ so they helped make that bed, but it’s for real and felt by a lot of people not in the Norman Olson zipcode of crankdom.
I think many of those “militia” groups are probably not going to be the allies of Democratic party in any meaningful way. David Neiwert at Orcinus ( http://dneiwert.blogspot.com ) has done a fair bit of research into these groups when dealing with eliminationist rhetoric, pseudofascism and authoritarianism.
That’s not to say all the militias or members are irredemable, and many do share concerns with the progressive populist movements. It’s just a matter of whether our similarities are more powerful than our differences.
But yeah, I’m pleasantly surprised at the Freepers.