Wiccan Symbol Allowed On Veterans' Headstones

Robert Paul Reyes
April 24, 2007
Associated Press

"The Wiccan pentacle has been added to the list of emblems allowed in national cemeteries and on government-issued headstones of fallen soldiers, according to a settlement announced Monday.

A settlement between the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Wiccans adds the five-pointed star to the list of "emblems of belief" allowed on VA grave markers."

American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are ostensibly fighting for freedom; our warriors should have the freedom to choose what emblem of belief appears on their headstones.

The choice shouldn't be limited to a religious emblem, atheists should be allowed to place a symbol representing the Big Bang on their gravestones.

I'm not a Wiccan, but I rejoice that their faith is no longer relegated to a second-tier status.

Every time a religious or ethnic minority wins a long struggle for civil rights, there are always those who complain that they are receiving special treatment. In answer to that absurd charge, I include this quote from the New York Times:

“The Wiccan families we represented were in no way asking for special treatment,” the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United, said at a news conference today. “They wanted precisely the same treatment that dozens of other religions already had received from the department, an acknowledgment that their spiritual beliefs were on par with those of everyone else.”

Death is the great equalizer, and our soldiers should be treated equally in life and in death.