{"id":724,"date":"2006-09-27T19:29:00","date_gmt":"2006-09-27T19:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=724"},"modified":"2006-09-27T19:29:00","modified_gmt":"2006-09-27T19:29:00","slug":"americans-united-threatens-suit-over-veterans-pentacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=724","title":{"rendered":"Americans United threatens suit over veteran’s pentacle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Americans United for Separation of Church and State is now threatening a lawsuit against the Veterans Administration<\/a> for its foot-dragging over a Wiccan soldier’s memorial plaque.<\/p>\n

Previous post here<\/a>. Right: artist’s rendition of what Sgt. Stewart’s plaque should look like.<\/em><\/p>\n

From the news release: Americans United for Separation of Church and State today [26 Sept.] warned the Department of Veterans Affairs that litigation will become unavoidable if it continues to discriminate against Wiccans by denying the right to include the Pentacle, the Wiccan emblem of belief, on government-furnished headstones, plaques, and other memorials for fallen veterans. In a letter issued today, Americans United gave the VA fourteen days to approve the Pentacle or face litigation.<\/em><\/p>\n

There is ongoing coverage Circle Sanctuary’s Web site<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

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 today [26 Sept.] […]<\/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-724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-bG","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":860,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=860","url_meta":{"origin":724,"position":0},"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":[]},{"id":765,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=765","url_meta":{"origin":724,"position":1},"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":719,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=719","url_meta":{"origin":724,"position":2},"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":626,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=626","url_meta":{"origin":724,"position":3},"title":"No marker for Wiccan veteranA\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"No marker for Wiccan veteranA 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\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":724,"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":263,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=263","url_meta":{"origin":724,"position":5},"title":"Interfaith games In Austin, Texas,\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 15, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Interfaith games In Austin, Texas, a Feri-style invocation in a Methodist Church, the Statesman reports (registration required). \"The expression [broom closet] is an example, Wiccan Gordon Fossum said, of the mix of mirth and reverence his faith embodies. Earlier that morning, Fossum had jokingly invoked the 'Goddess Caffeina' to get\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724","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=724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}