{"id":626,"date":"2006-03-03T03:47:00","date_gmt":"2006-03-03T03:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=626"},"modified":"2006-03-03T03:47:00","modified_gmt":"2006-03-03T03:47:00","slug":"626","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=626","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

No marker for Wiccan veteran<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Wiccan sergeant from the Nevada National Guard was killed in action in Afghanistan. Now his widow runs up against the Veterans Administration’s refusal to permit a pentacle marker on the graves of Wiccan veterans<\/a>, notes the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/em> (Link may expire, so I will quote at length.)<\/p>\n

Stewart’s widow, Roberta, said she will wait until her family’s religion — and its five-pointed star enclosed in a circle, with one point facing skyward — is recognized for use on memorials before Stewart’s plaque is installed.<\/p>\n

“It’s completely blank,” Roberta Stewart said, pointing to her husband’s place on the memorial.<\/p>\n

She said she had no idea the pentacle could not be used on her husband’s memorial plaque until she had to deal with the agency after the death of her husband.”<\/p>\n

…<\/div>\n

Patrick Stewart’s dog tags, which Roberta Stewart wears around her neck, carry the word Wiccan on them to identify his religious beliefs. But she said he was never told the Wiccan religion was not officially recognized during his 13 years of military service in different capacities.<\/p>\n

“By they way, if you die for your country, your religion won’t be recognized, that would be nice to know,” Roberta Stewart said.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and its National Cemetery Administration prohibit graphics on government-furnished headstones or markers other than those they have approved as “emblems of belief.” More than 30 such emblems are allowed on gravestones and makers in veterans cemeteries, from the Christian cross to the Buddhist wheel of righteousness. A symbol exists for atheists too.<\/em><\/p>\n

So what is the VA afraid of? <\/p>\n

Various Pagan groups have been stonewalled, if you will pardon the pun, by the VA up until now, but enough embarassment will cause the bureaucracy to move.<\/p>\n

Of course, not all Pagans are Wiccans, but Wicca, broadly defined, is the largest Pagan grouping, so let’s start there.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong> Jason Pitzl-Waters offers additional information and links<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Tags: Pagan veterans<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No marker for Wiccan veteran A Wiccan sergeant from the Nevada National Guard was killed in action in Afghanistan. Now his widow runs up against the Veterans Administration’s refusal to permit a pentacle marker on the graves of Wiccan veterans, notes the Las Vegas Review-Journal (Link may expire, so I will quote at length.) Stewart’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6xQTg-626","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":724,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=724","url_meta":{"origin":626,"position":0},"title":"Americans United threatens suit over veteran’s pentacle","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Americans United for Separation of Church and State is now threatening a lawsuit against the Veterans Administration for its foot-dragging over a Wiccan soldier's memorial plaque.Previous post here. Right: artist's rendition of what Sgt. Stewart's plaque should look like.From the news release: Americans United for Separation of Church and State\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":719,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=719","url_meta":{"origin":626,"position":1},"title":"Wiccan soldier’s plaque to show pentagram","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The memorial plaque for Sgt. Patrick Stewart, who died in Afghanistan, will display a Wiccan pentagram.[Nevada] 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\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":686,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=686","url_meta":{"origin":626,"position":2},"title":"Onward, Pagan soldiers","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The issue of Sgt. Patrick Stewart's Wiccan memorial marker \"has legs,\" as I would have said in my newspaper reporter days.Driving to school today, I heard Carl Kasell update the story on NPR's Morning Edition, and it occurred to me that that was the first time I had heard Wicca\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":765,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=765","url_meta":{"origin":626,"position":3},"title":"CNN polls on pentacle veterans’ markers","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This won't last, but CNN is polling viewers on whether the Veterans Administration should do the right thing and create a Wiccan grave\/memorial marker.So far the Yes votes are far ahead. I suspect that that is because Americans mostly think that (a) religion is a personal matter and (b) anyone\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":875,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=875","url_meta":{"origin":626,"position":4},"title":"If I Had a Hammer . . .","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Now that the Veterans Administration has granted the Wiccan pentacle as a grave marker, the quest for Thor's hammer begins.Pesky polytheists!","rel":"","context":"In \"polytheism\"","block_context":{"text":"polytheism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=polytheism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":860,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=860","url_meta":{"origin":626,"position":5},"title":"VA Approves the Wiccan Pentagram","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The first message (from a Pagan staffer at the American Academy of Religion) hit my inbox at 12:28 today, and then the Colorado Pagan email lists lit up: The Veterans Adminstration approved the pentagram for veterans' grave markers. (Pentagram, pentacle, same thing as far as the news media are concerned.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}