"Should we question a Christian widow's request for a cross if the fallen soldier might have just been 'indulging her while alive to keep the peace'?"
Sure. It happens. My husband doesn't openly practice his religion, but he's told me I can bury him any way I want to if he goes before me. Just make absolutely certain he's dead before I do so, LOL!
I wasn't denegrating their choice in religion at all. Luckily, we Lutherans have thick skins when others accuse us of things they imagine we're saying. ;)
"mnehrling" cleared it all up. The article was sorely lacking in details; you know the MSM and how they LOVE to leave out the details so it makes the MILITARY look bad. As a vet myself, it bugs the heck out of me.
This IS an AP story, so I have no problems questioning the content or looking for the "agenda." It's not like they don't misrepresent the facts on a daily basis when it comes to sticking it to the military for any reason they can find.
And they had to look long and hard to find a 'Wiccan War Widow' to use her to make the military look bad. How many buried now? 2,460 or so? We've had 55 losses in Wisconsin. No stories about those families and their loss because they're not whining about the military "doing them wrong."
Ummmm, there is still no set government marker for Wiccans, while there are markers for a myriad of other obscure faiths.
I personally think that should be remedied and have no problem with AP telling me about the oversight.
My apologies. My perception was that you were questioning the right of the widow to make the declaration of the soldier's religious preference. As such, I was merely opining that, absent any direct indication from the decedent himself, the respectful thing would be to not question the next of kin's claim.
"...but he's told me I can bury him any way I want to if he goes before me..."
I'm with him. I have beliefs which are very important to me, but one of them is that once I'm gone from this earth none of those decisions will matter at all to me.