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I guess our disagreement is in where one draws the line at "reasonably comparable." I refuse to give Wicca the respect some of its practitioners seek, or to take it seriously. How many people on the planet do you suppose were practicing Wicca before the 1980's?

How many people were practicing Mormonism when the First Amendment was ratified?

Some angel gave some guy named Smith some Golden Tablets that later disappeared?

To non-Mormons, that sounds pretty silly, doesn't it?

No matter what your religion is, hundreds of millions of people all over the world consider your religion to be a false religion and nothing more than superstitious belief.

The issue here is not respecting a religion that you believe is silly.

The issue here is respecting the religious wishes of U.S. service-members that gave their lives for America.

“The issue here is not respecting a religion that you believe is silly. The issue here is respecting the religious wishes of U.S. service-members that gave their lives for America.”

Thanks. Very well stated.

I would add that our Constitution guarantees freedom OF religion not freedom FROM religion. That means that it guarantees each of us the freedom to follow one’s own path in the matter of faith or even to follow the path to not believe. It’s not the government’s job to either endorse one faith over the exclusion of all others or to hinder the free exercise of any religion even if some in the mainstream considers that belief “wacky”.

Our country was founded mainly by Protestants but also by others who sought the freedom to exercise beliefs that were considered heretical by the Anglican Church of England. The colony of Pennsylvania was founded by Quakers (considered way wacky in their day) and my home state of Maryland (the Free State) was founded by Catholics (evil Papists). They and many others sought refuge in the “New World” from the religious persecutions they experienced in the “Old World”. When all these colonies came together to form our Republic our Founders wisely decided to create a secular Government, that while based on Judeo-Christian traditions and morals, the pagan Roman and Greek traditions of Democracy and earlier European codes of law, did not deem to dictate the beliefs of its citizens.

And isn’t that what makes our Country so great?

I don’t want our Military (read Government run) cemeteries to exclude anyone’s beliefs. It would be another matter if the Government forced a Catholic cemetery to include Wiccan symbols or a Jewish cemetery to include Muslim makers.

Over the years I’ve been friends with people with a wide variety of views and beliefs – born again Christians, Mormons, Jews, Muslims even some Wiccans. While none of it is my cup of tea, I’ve found they all are as pretty normal as most other folks. They have jobs, own homes, raise and love their children pay taxes, and if they pay the ultimate sacrifice in service to our Country, they are entitled to having the burial of their choice.