{"id":765,"date":"2006-11-14T17:53:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-14T17:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=765"},"modified":"2006-11-14T17:53:00","modified_gmt":"2006-11-14T17:53:00","slug":"cnn-polls-on-pentacle-veterans-markers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=765","title":{"rendered":"CNN polls on pentacle veterans’ markers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/a><\/p>\n

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 who served in the military ought to get the religious marker of their choice.<\/p>\n

Some background here<\/a> and more current news here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/b>: At GetReligion, they are wondering if the pentacle might be offensive to families of nearby-buried vets<\/a>. I suppose the star of David and that atheistic atomic symbol are offensive too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 who served in the […]<\/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-765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-cl","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":724,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=724","url_meta":{"origin":765,"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":860,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=860","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":1},"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":875,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=875","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":2},"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":719,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=719","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":3},"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":770,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=770","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":4},"title":"Pagan Studies and paper management","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 25, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Capitol as it looked on my last morning's walk to the AAR-SBL meeting.Coming home from the American Academy of Religion-Society for Biblical Literature meeting means an enormous amount of \"paper management.\" Books, catalogs, receipts, business cards, mysterious scribbled notes, sample copies of journals, maps, newspaper clippings--all are dumped on\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":765,"position":5},"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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765","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=765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/765\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}