Posted on 09/02/2007 1:34:34 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
Bush apologizes to Wiccan widow
Published: Sept 2, 2007 at 10:16 AM
WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush apologized to a Nevada Wiccan who was left out of a presidential meeting with relatives of soldiers killed in combat.
Rebecca Stewart, who sued to have the Wiccan symbol placed on her husbands grave marker in a military cemetery, told The Washington Post the president called her to apologize. She said she explained to Bush the faith she and her husband shared.
Sgt. Patrick Stewart was killed in Afghanistan in 2005.
Stewart said she heard about the private meeting from her mother-in-law, who was invited. The president visited Nevada to speak at the American Legion convention.
Stewart told the Post she believed she had been excluded from the invitation list because of the lawsuit she filed to have the Defense Department place the Wiccan symbol -- a five-pointed star inside a circle -- on her husband's grave. She won the suit and the government added the Wiccan symbol to 38 others that were previously recognized, including a symbol for atheism.
While other Wiccans are known to be serving in the military, Stewart is believed to be the first to die in combat.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
I have sympathy with her for her loss, and am grateful to him for his service.
You?
Well I thank that you are an affront to common decency. This man DIED for his country.
>>Man our President has sure lost his way. What moronic thing to do.<<
What was moronic about what the President did?
It doesn’t scare me, but I can’t pretend it’s right.
After looking at that list, I figure there are probably more Wiccans serving than there are believers of about half of those "authorized" religions. I've served with several people who identified themselves as Wiccan. Some of those other religions, I've never heard of nor have I met any practitioners.
It doesn't make any of them less worthy of having their own symbol.
Satan is a Christian concept, not Wiccan.
But I don’t think Satan is at the root of
your my-religion-uber-alles.
The only thing that scares me is that this is at all contraversial amongst "conservatives."
The First Amendment unambiguously requires forbids both hostility towards and support for any particular religious viewpoint. Just because I consider Wicca to be a wacky faith with as much basis in reality as Star Wars doesn't mean it should be banned. I know that I'd be pretty ticked if I gave my life as a soldier and my family was not allowed to put a Christian cross on my gravestone. The same First Amendment that guarantees my family that right guarantees the right for a Wiccan soldier.
As a former Marine all I can say to you is; go f—k yourself! You owe him a lot a$$hole!
Then just substitute whatever euphemism witches use for satan.
Yes, she has an agenda. She'd like the symbol of her husband's faith to adorn his gravestone at Arlington --as the followers of 37 other "authorized" religions are allowed to do.
The only thing disrespectful is the way her husband's religion is dismissed as unworthy of a symbol upon his grave.
Thanks for the link. I was trying to figure out why the C&MA symbol included a baseball player, but it turns out to be the other kind of pitcher.
Kinda reminds you of the Taliban, doesn't it?
Learn to read. I was responding to the accusation that he fought and died for the “right” to force satanism on the rest of us. I said that if the accusation was true, I don’t owe him anything. And I stand by that. I do not owe anything to satan’s army. I do owe a great debt to the men and women who have fought and died for this nation. If you can’t tell the difference, take it out on the teachers and parents who failed you.
They don’t believe in Satan do you not understand? There is no euphemism for Satan. Surprisingly they hold only themselves accountable for their actions, not some devil character. In many ways their system is quite conservative.
But he paid the price for you to worship in your own way.
ROFL
Satanic symbols still don’t belong on sacred ground.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.