Posted on 05/30/2006 12:53:17 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
FERNLEY, NV - A war widow who wants the government to put a Wiccan religious symbol on her husband's memorial plaque held an alternative service Monday as a protest, hours before an official Memorial Day ceremony nearby.
"This is discrimination against our religion," Roberta Stewart said at the gathering of about 200 at a park east of Fernley for her late husband, Sgt. Patrick Stewart. "I ask you to help us remember that all freedoms are worth fighting for."
A few hours later and a few miles away in this pastoral community east of Reno, official Memorial Day ceremonies were conducted at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery.
The space under Stewart's name on a memorial plaque remains blank.
The Department of Veterans Affairs so far has refused to grant the Stewart family's request to have the Wiccan pentacle, a five-pointed star surrounded by a circle, placed on the government-issued plaque.
Stewart, 34, was killed in Afghanistan on Sept. 25 when a rocket-propelled grenade struck his helicopter. Four others also died. Stewart was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.
Wiccans worship the Earth and believe they must give to the community. Some consider themselves "white" or good witches, pagans or neo-pagans.
"We are here today to honor American religious diversity of all faiths," the Rev. Selena Fox said at the alternative memorial service.
Fox, senior minister of a Wiccan group based in Barneveld, Wis., said Stewart died defending the country that is denying him the right to express his religious freedom.
Jo Schuda, a spokeswoman for the VA, said Friday she did not know when a decision would be made on the request.
Approximately 1,800 active-duty service members identify themselves as Wiccans, according to 2005 Defense Department statistics.
does not say HE worship the fraud.
What was HE?
What happens when the deceased was say christian but the widow was jewish? Does her religious preference have the right to overide the deceased?
What about the fact that her symbol is offensive to the other familes and is specifically used by other religions as a sign of satanic worship? She is the one being absurd.
What if he has a final request that wiccan (aka wican) NOT be on his memorial? That has to be respected despite the widows political efforts.
ping
That's the point, always using rational thinking and processes to further knowledge. It wouldn't be rational if it never changed -- it would be dogmatic.
Still is.
The markers, grave site, and everything else is for those who survive me. I'll have no need of them.
I know, the name just doesn't strike terror into your heart.
Amy is a nice girl who bakes cookies and ends up being in charge of the high school class reunion because nobody else will do it. Not very demonic, I think.
I think it's because atoms are at the root of all things that that is used.
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