April 23, 2007
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Progress in Religious Freedom
Through the efforts of Roberta Stewart, widow of Sgt. Patrick Stewart, who sought to mark her husband’s grave in a military cemetery with the Wiccan Pentacle, a federal court has issued a ruling compelling the VA to allow pentagrams along with crosses and stars of David.I was working on today’s blog entry when that news flash came on NPR. I wanted to share it.
Comments (14)
I’m glad the decision was made in time for the eleven families mentioned in the lawsuit to get their plaques and headstones in time for Memorial Day. I don’t know if any Wiccan families that don’t already have pending requests could get one that quick…but at least they can get one.
i am always wondering why things like this matter to people so much… the ones wanted to not allow it that is. people should be able to live and die and celebrate it like they want so long as it doesn’t interfere in anothers right to do so as well.
Interesting, I thought “Freedom of Religion” was decided a a couple of hundred years ago–in the Bill of Rights?!
Freedom of Religion, for the Founding Fathers, who were in rebellion against Anglican England, meant freedom to practice a form of Christianity not prescribed by the State. Everyone else has had to fight for theirs.
This is good news.
Great News
it’s about time…
Maybe some day it’ll be okay to be free of religion, too.
We can be free from religion now, as long as we are very quiet about it.
i’ve been hearing about this from a few wiccan friends for awhile now and am glad to hear the inevitable has finally come about; any other result and i’d have been severely up in arms.
~ ponders ~ I think it is sad how certain religious – or better – spiritual movements take over symbols and claim it their own. As far as I remember (and it’s almost midnight and I’m low on caffeine), pentacles originated in Christianity and Judaism, and yet – now that Wiccans claim it their own – Christians frown upon it. Tell me… what makes a pentacle a “Wiccan Pentacle”? I wonder which way the Pope cuts his apples?
What I’m trying to say is that this whole discussion about the pentacle should not have been about religion at all. If I were a member of a cult that puts smiley faces on amulets and prayed to the God of the Giant Marshmallow Man from the orginal Ghostbusters… would anyone object to my tomb stone bearing a giant smiley? It’s a strange world we live in, isn’t it?
abour freakin time!
that is great news! i personally don’t need acknowledgement of what spiritual path i am following… but i am glad that it was allowed because it was important to this family… i love it when it actually turns out good… thank you for sharing this important tidbit of information….
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