This is huge.
The Bush administration has conceded that Wiccans are entitled to have the pentacle, the symbol of their faith, inscribed on government-issued memorial markers for deceased veterans, Americans United for Separation of Church and State announced today.
This settlement happened because of the persistence of Roberta Stewart, widow of slain Iraqi war veteran Patrick Stewart, and of Selena Fox, Circle Sanctuary, and of thousands of Pagans who wrote letters, signed petitions, blogged, and more. They all deserve enormous praise. I hope Ms. Stewart rests easier tonight.
Sadly, the lawsuit was settled because Americans United for Separation of Church and State was able to discover a specific pattern of discrimination against Wicca in the handling of the Pentacle petition.
Even some Pagans have kind of sneered at this case, and suggested that it was ridiculous to think it was discrimination when it was probably nothing more than beaurocracy or some failure to follow a particular rule or something equally "innocent." The Libertarian set was quick to bitch about our litigious society and impugn the motives of those who carried this fight forward. But Americans United proved that discrimination was at the root of the problem, forcing the government to settle.
A Wiccan group first petitioned the VA for approval of the pentacle years ago. Officials at the agency dragged their feet on the request but in the interim approved the symbols of six other religions and belief systems. Among them was a Sikh emblem, which the VA approved in just a few weeks.
This is a huge and sorely needed victory for religious freedom. We see so little of the good stuff. Yay!
(Cross-posted without a pun or pithy allusion in sight.)
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