Victory at last!!!!!!!!!!!! |
The Pentacle has been Approved!!!!!!!! |
| The Veterans Administration has settled a lawsuit filed by Roberta Stewart and several pagans and civil rights organizations and approved the Pentacle for use on veterans headstones. Nine years ago, the first request was submitted to the VA. For almost a decade, they stonewalled us, resutling in 2 separate lawsuits agaisnt the VA. They also agreed, according to the article, to pay $225,000 in legal fees to the plaintiffs! |
| Link to CNN Article |
| VA's allowed symbol list (scroll to bottom) |
One symbol down and many more to go. We won't stop till you can have any symbol that
represents your faith on your headstone. Veterans deserve nothing less.
I love this quote from the CNN article sums it up best... " "This settlement has forced the Bush Administration into acknowledging that there are no second class religions in America, including among our nation's veterans," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which represented the Wiccans in the lawsuit." While this is a great victory, not only for Wiccans, but also for all people of faith, we alsocan't afford to rest on our laurels. Now is the time to take action and get other symbols approved while this action is still fresh in thier memory. As has been suggested on the discussion list, what we should also start working towards is removing the VA's ability to approve symbols based on wether they think the religion is worthy or not. There is still the ability to deny a symbol because of the complexity of the design that may not be economically feasable for the stone cutters to do, but no sysmbol should be stalled or denied because a beaurocrat thinks that the belief system is frivolous or not a real religion. That is something that is in direct violation of not only the words, but the spirit of the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independance, as well as the wished of our Founding Fathers, who wished to see an America free from the corrupt chains that bind nations that are intermingled with religion in thier customs and structures. They saw the excess of Spain and England and the freedoms that were denied based on one's religious beliefs. They did not want to see that happen here...especially agaisnt those who served to defend our rights...and in many cases...died protecting them. |
| We have many symbols to go...so lets take a well deserved break and get that machine moving again!! |
| Why we are here... |
| While the first phase of our goal has been accomplished, the approval of the Pentagram for Wiccans, we still have many other symbols to go. There many other Pagan faiths out there that still do not have a symbol. We will fight until all are no longer denied thier Constitutionally guaranteed right to free practice thier religion by being able to have thier religious symbol of choice on thier grave marker. They served thier country and earned this right. We have fought long and hard, but this is but one battle. May the Gods be with you all!!! |
| What got us started... |
It has come to our attention that, while there are thirty-two (32)
different religious symbols allowed on veterans' headstones, mine will have to remain bare.
If members of religious organizations with as few members in the US military as The Aaronic
Order, The Native American Church, Baha'i, Konko-Kyo, Sufism, Tenrikyo, Seicho-no-ie,
The Church of World Messianity, the Moravian Church and Enkankar are entitled to religious,
why, may we ask, are not Wiccans entitled to our religious symbol, the Pentagram? Something must
be done to correct this injustice against Pagan veterans who honorably and proudly served
this great nation to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States and the freedoms
the Constitution guarantees. Support the campaign to pressure the Department of Veterans
Affairs to authorize a 33rd headstone symbol, a Pentacle so that Pagan veterans
can be buried under a headstone that shows their religion rather than a blank stone. This campaign started when in 1989 Rosemary Kooiman, wife of Abe Kooiman( who passed away in 2002), submitted a request for her now deceased husband, a veteran. She was unable to obtain a headstone with a Pentagram on it...the symbol of her and Abe's religion. For the over 10 years, she has been getting the response that the Veteran's Administration was updating its regulations on religious symbols and that once that was done, the symbol would get approved. Over ten years later, there have been no rules changes and no pentagrams approved... and we keep getting the same answers. Unfortunately Rosemary passed away before she could see this to fruition. |
| With the recent deaths of Pagan soldiers in military operations in Iraq and Afganistan, it has become even more important that we support all efforts to get the VA to reverse thier stance of discrimination and get Pagan symbols approved for use on veteran headstones. |
| Congratulations to Roberta Stewart on getting the plaque for the memorial for her late husband, SGT Patrick Stewart! Keep up the fight Roberta...we are behind you 100%! |
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| Today's date is Friday, 03 Jul 2009 |
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| Copyright ©1996-2006 Pagan Headstone Campaign. All rights reserved. |
| Revised: Sunday, 26 March 2006 |