Freedom of religion?
By xParanoiax
@xParanoiax (6987)
United States
February 11, 2007 8:59pm CST
So far out of a few dead wiccan soldiers on ONE has been granted the right to have the pentacle on his headstone -- as far as I know anyway..but that's ony because his widow's been fighting way over a year to get that one pentacle.
Another widow sued the V.A. because they denied her the ight to place the pentacle on her husband's headstone.
There ar 38 symbols on their 'allow' list. The pentacle and probably a few others ar excluded. Yet they're accepted as real religions according tothe government here in the U.S.
Very weird of the government, no? It also goes against our Freedom of Religion.
And besides if wiccans and denied..who says someone on the allowed list won't get kicked off next?
It's not that nobody's doing anything about it, the COG has been with Americans united for years over this..and we all knew there'd be issues before the war in Iraq started..we'd hoped there wouldn't be..but..
So what're your guys' thoughts on this? Do you think they'll be forced to give up their baseless denial or will someone end up having to take up a big lgal battle over it..which we will win? Since legally there shoudn't be any question of those symbols being on there..or whether or not the widows or widowers being allowed to put a certain thing on the fallen soldiers headstones.
2 people like this
3 responses
@payingforschool (678)
• Canada
12 Feb 07
There really shouldn't be any question about what a widow puts on her husband's gravestone. I'm not wiccan, so before now I didn't realize this was a contracersy, but now that i read it I think you are right. No one shoudl be able to say what is and what isn't an acceptable religious symbol. I guess it will proabbly go to a legal battle, since I can't see how else you'll get the government to change, unfortunately.
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
12 Feb 07
Alot peope haven't heard of the controversy over this unless they're actually from the states of the fallen soldiers..sad but true. Partly because we're still not a widely accepted religion..even though we've been officially protected legally as a religion for years.
But I agree..they shouldn't be telling people they aren't allowed to put things on their loved one's headstones or what's an accepted religious symbol..it's a flat out violation of our constitution.
*grimaces* geh..the legal battle's gonna be a nightmare, and we'll probably never hear the end of it even if (though I'm pretty sure it will be) it's won.
@Bizziebod (3497)
•
15 Feb 07
Are we talking about a war cemetary here? If it is then there should be no reason NOT to have a pentacle on his headstone or any other religious sign for that matter if the widow/er chooses to! If it is a church graveyard they are interred in then I don't think this would be allowed anyway?
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
16 Feb 07
There are alot of non-church cemetaries these days, and though I don't know what cemetaries the families are burrying their loved ones though I'm willing to bet they were cemetaries for fallen soldiers since if it'd had been a church one it would've probably been on the news instead of only in a few newspapers and a few articles on the web.
But yeah, part of it was putting the pentacle on their plaques along with the headstones. Like the one widow who won that legal battle over it finally got to put the pentacle on her husband's plaque.
But I agree, there shouldn't be ANY reason to keep any religious symbol off of headstones or plaques of anyone really. Whether they were soldiers or not.
@Willowlady (10658)
• United States
12 Feb 07
Having work for the State government I can tell you that change happens slowly if ever. This is a line that is straddled even in our lives from time to time. With enought attention this can be addressed, that is how our country works. We need a good lawyer that will present the case in a manner that not even the military can deny. The media could become a real help maybe.
