Posted on 04/23/2007 1:47:44 PM PDT by Zakeet
The Wiccan pentacle has been added to the list of emblems allowed in national cemeteries and on government-issued headstones of fallen soldiers, according to a settlement announced Monday.
A settlement between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Wiccans adds the five-pointed star to the list of "emblems of belief" allowed on VA grave markers.
Eleven families nationwide are waiting for grave markers with the pentacle, said Selena Fox, a Wiccan high priestess with Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld, Wisconsin, a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
The settlement calls for the pentacle, whose five points represent earth, air, fire, water and spirit, to be placed on grave markers within 14 days for those who have pending requests with the VA.
"I am glad this has ended in success in time to get markers for Memorial Day," Fox said.
The VA sought the settlement in the interest of the families involved and to save taxpayers the expense of further litigation, VA spokesman Matt Burns said. The agency also agreed to pay $225,000 in attorneys' fees and costs.
The pentacle has been added to 38 symbols the VA already permits on gravestones. They include commonly recognized symbols for Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism, as well as those for smaller religions such as Sufism Reoriented, Eckiankar and the Japanese faith Seicho-No-Ie.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Not relevant in any way.
If this hero believed in it, if it was his faith, than it is every bit as legitimate as Christianity when it comes to recognizing his faith on his grave.
I personally think that Scientology is a silly religion, but I would never be so crass as to say so to the grieving family of a military hero who wanted that symbol on his gravestone.
All faiths were once new, after all. The important thing is honoring the wishes of our dead soldiers, not nitpicking those wishes.
Tee hee hee. See post 39...
A travesty. There are no pentacles at the U.S. military cemetery in Normandy, where our men are buried beneath the cross. The mere suggestion of such a thing would have been met by that generation of American heroes with disbelief and scorn. The first pentacle to appear at Arlington will be a tragic desecration.
If you wish to die for our freedom, you can put anyone or anything you wish on your tombstone.
?
They deserve better from you.
Thank you
Gods warriors are the warpath again....
So what Christianity continues to be made up today as well as several thousand years ago. How long a made up religion has kicked around is its measurer of believability?
Christianity, as a matter of historical fact apart from all supernatural beliefs, is not a made-up religion.
It is true that certain made-up religions like Islam are very much older than the invention of "Wicca."
I haven't ridiculed anything on this thread.
Oh, here we go...
Ridicule
noun
The act of deriding or treating with contempt.
Wicca is a formal religion, recognized by the government of The United States of America. It does not matter when it began, or was invented, or discovered, or re-discovered, or whatever term you prefer to use. It does not matter if you believe in it or not. Your posts display an open contempt for the religion. You persist in harping on the age of the Wiccan religion. I fail to see the relevance of the age of any religion, as every religion was young once, many religions are older than Christianity, and no religion can prove it is the one, true, and only real faith.
Soldiers died defending the United States. A few of them listed Wicca as their religion on official paperwork. Would you deny them their commonly accepted religious symbol on their gravestones?
I repeat- They deserver better from you than this.
On mine, I want pepperoni.
Tentacles up, testicles down.
Did you know dervishes whirl in a clockwise direction in the northern hemisphere, but counterclockwise in the south?
You used it as a verb.
Your posts display an open contempt for the religion.
I don't believe in it.
I would have more respect for it if its practitioners were honest about its provenance.
You persist in harping on the age of the Wiccan religion. I fail to see the relevance of the age of any religion
You may not.
Wiccans however do, and go to great lengths to create the illusion that their religion predates Christianity.
What do they do on the equator?
They equivocate, of course.
“The first pentacle to appear at Arlington will be a tragic desecration.”
I’m going to make myself wildly unpopular here (assuming I haven’t already done so with previous posts) by agreeing with you onward_xtian_soldier. My grandfather was buried at Arlington this past June. His sister and brother-in-law are buried on the hill behind him. There is still plenty of space on either side of my grandfather’s grave. I’m not looking forward to seeing it surrounded by pentagrams.
I agree that these men and women have a constitutionally protected right to pursue their own religious faiths and symbols. Nonetheless, I think this is sad.
*smacks forehead*
Would you prefer that they be surrounded by islamic crescents?
Those are allowed and have been for quite some time.
Or do you want Arlington to be exclusively Christian, and to Hell with everyone else? (Pun/irony fully intended)...
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