Wiccan soldiers finally recognized
April 24, 2007
You might recall there’s been a fight over the use of the Wiccan pentacle at VA cemeteries. That’s apparently over; as of April 23 pentacle is now on the list of approved emblems of belief (It’s #37).
The VA settled with Americans United for Separation of Church and State after AU uncovered evidence that the VA was intentionally dragging its feet.
Americans United’s attorneys uncovered evidence that the VA’s refusal to recognize the Pentacle was motivated by bias toward the Wiccan faith. President George W. Bush, when he was governor of Texas, had opposed the right of Wiccans to meet at a military base in that state. Bush’s opinion of Wiccans was taken into consideration when making decisions on whether to approve the Pentacle.
It’s worth noting that atheists (#16) and humanists (#32) had their symbols approved long before the Wiccans did. Sorry, guys, you can no longer lay claim to “most despised belief system.”
Thanks to Jason at the Wild Hunt for birddogging this.
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April 24th, 2007 at 9:01 am
That awesome!
Were you involved with getting representation?
What’s weird to me is the last 2 logos are not shown because of copyright violations. WTF?! It’s religion, no a Budweiser logo. I don’t get that.
April 24th, 2007 at 9:24 am
No, I didn’t work on that — but it occurs to me I should join AU.
Some churches claim copyright on symbols and materials in order to make media criticism more difficult. Scientology is an excellent example of that.
April 24th, 2007 at 11:44 pm
What about Satanists? Something tells me you’d have a hard time getting an upside down cross approved.
For that matter, the swastika is an old Celtic symbol…
April 25th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Do we value freedom of religion or not?
And not to be pedantic or anything, but the emblem of the Church of Satan is not the inverted cross but the Sigil of Baphomet. And the swastika as a religious symbol shows up in most cultures, not just Celtic — Roman, Hindu, Buddhist, American Indian…