The Noble Pagan Forums - Wiccans Victorious in Getting Pentacle on Veterans' Tombstones-- Denis Camire

GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
April 23, 2007, n.p.

© 2007, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.


Wiccans Victorious in Getting Pentacle on Veterans' Tombstones


By Dennis Camire
Gannett News Service

Wiccan Soldier, Wiccan Tombstone

The plaque of Sgt. Patrick Stewart is shown Dec. 2, 2006, after it was dedicated with a Wiccan symbol on it at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley, Nevada. Stewart's widow Roberta has been fighting the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to get the Wiccan symbol on his plaque. (AP Photo/Cathleen Allison)



WASHINGTON--Wiccans who served in the U.S. military will be allowed to have their faith's pentacle emblem engraved on government-issued tombstones and memorials under a legal agreement announced Monday with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Roberta Stewart of Fernley, Nev., one of the plaintiffs, had sought a pentacle-inscribed memorial plaque from the VA for her husband, Nevada National Guard Sgt. Patrick D. Stewart, who was killed in action in 2005 when his helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan.

"I have waited for this day for so long," said Stewart. "Today I have relief, comfort and happiness in knowing a quest for religious freedom has prevailed."

Stewart, other veterans' widows and members of the Wicca faith had asked the VA to officially recognize the pentacle--a five-pointed star inside a circle--as an "emblem of faith" and include it with 38 other symbols for use on government headstones and memorial plaques.

With backing from Americans for Separation of Church and State, they filed a lawsuit in November in Wisconsin federal court alleging the VA stalled for a decade in recognizing the emblem. The case was to go to trial but will be dismissed under the settlement.

The Wiccans argued that the VA was violating their constitutional rights of freedom of speech, religion and due process.

Richard B. Katskee, attorney for American United for Separation of Church and State, said the Constitution's First Amendment calls for fair play and equal treatment for religions.

"We wouldn't want it any other way because that would lead to a hierarchy of faiths, some favored by the state and others disfavored," he said.

Katskee said the IRS recognizes the Wicca religion for tax purposes and the military has allowed Wiccans to practice their religion on bases and service members to have Wiccan listed on their dog tags as their religion. Military chaplains are given information about the faith in their official handbooks, he said.

The settlement calls for the VA to add the pentacle to its list of approved symbols and make it available to families of all veterans who want it.

The VA also has to supply headstones, markers and plaques within two weeks to Stewart and others who have sought them so far.

"This settlement has forced the Bush administration into acknowledging that there are no second-class religions in America, including among our nation's veterans," said Barry W. Lynn, executive director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Among the symbols the VA recognizes and installs on grave markers and memorials are those for Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Native Americans, Sikhs and atheists. In 2003, the VA approved the American Humanist Association's emblem of spirit--a stylized human figure with arms stretched upward.

The government acted to settle "in the interest of the families concerned and to spare taxpayers the expense of further litigation," said VA spokesman Matt Burns.

As part of the settlement, the VA agreed to pay $225,000 to the plaintiffs for costs and attorneys' fees, according to the agreement.

Burns said the VA agreed to the settlement after it became clear that the Wiccans' application "would be favorably considered" under new rules it is considering.

Selena Fox, a senior minister of the Wiccan Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld, Wis., said she knows of at least 11 other families across the country waiting for markers with the pentacle.

"It is a major victory in the larger quest of religious freedom for all, not only in America but for human life around the world," said Fox, a party in the case.

Wiccans say their religion is peaceful and focuses on a central tenet that they must not harm others. They believe in psychic energy and practice their faith through meditations, rituals and other observances.

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