Re: Wiccan sign allowed on soldier's plaque
- From: "the same" <iggy714@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 14 Sep 2006 19:46:08 -0700
quite right pac...freedom again is just another word for nothin left to
lose...the same
pacsky@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Amazing - and i betcha it isnt a cross with a guy hangin on it which is
sooooo
totally OK in this great society place
score one for anyone who
understands that wicca is nature reverance sacred
and score one more for the gov
giving rights to Spirituality
i think the forefathers called it
religious freedom somewhere in the
constitution?
spiritvoice5
flubert wrote:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060914/ap_on_re_us/wiccan_soldier_4;_ylt=A9G_Rx8Z3whFol8AogxH2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTBidHQxYjh2BHNlYwN5bnN0b3J5
Wiccan sign allowed on soldier's plaque
By SCOTT SONNER, Associated Press Writer 42 minutes ago
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.
But state officials said they had received a legal opinion from the Nevada
attorney general's office that concluded federal officials have no authority
over state veterans' cemeteries. They now plan to have a contractor
construct a plaque with the Wiccan pentacle - a circle around a five-pointed
star - to be added to the Veterans' Memorial Wall in Fernley.
"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."
Wiccans worship the earth and believe they must give to the community. Some
consider themselves good witches, pagans or neo-pagans.
The Veterans Affairs' National Cemetery Administration allows only approved
emblems of religious beliefs on government headstones. Over the years, it
has approved more than 30, including symbols for the Tenrikyo Church, United
Moravian Church and Sikhs. There is also an emblem for atheists.
.
- References:
- Wiccan sign allowed on soldier's plaque
- From: flubert
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- From: pacsky
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