CURRENT MOON

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Stars,Stripes, and Pentacles


Stars and Stripes has a respectful, heartwarming story about the dedication of at least the third pentacle-engraved headstone at Arlington National Cemetery.

On Wednesday [Reverend Selena] Fox, members of her congregation, and other pagans held a consecration ceremony at the grave site of Jan Deanna, a Wiccan minister who passed away more than two years ago.

Her husband, Army Capt. William O’Rourke, passed away nine years earlier and had the Christian cross engraved on his tombstone. But Deanna’s side was left blank, because until May the Department of Veterans Affairs had no symbol to recognize her faith.
Several weeks ago, the headstones of Wiccan Rosemary Koolman and her military husband were engraved with the pentacle and dedicated. As Stars and Stripes explains, Wiccans have been fighting for some time to have their religious symbol on their military headstones; the Veterans Administration recently settled a suit by Wiccans, caving completely when embarassing e-mails came to light indicating that the VA was dragging its heels on the Wiccans' request because George Bush doesn't consider Wicca a "valid" religion.

The Stars and Stripes article is objective and well-written. It avoids the "let's get a xian to provide a negative quote about Wiccans" ploy so often used by the press when reporting on Wicca. Oddly, when the press writes stories about xians, they don't go looking for a witch to provide "balance"-type commentary.

The article also mentions that Amy Staff Sgt. Frederick Twombly, a member of the 63rd Engineer Support Battalion, helped set up a Wiccan worship community in Baghdad during both of his deployments over to Iraq.

“We had guys from all over, all different units, all different ranks,” he said. “People would look and say, ‘Wait, he’s a major and he’s a Wiccan?’ And then they’d understand that it’s not just some hidden thing.”


Bravo Stars and Stripes!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, we've got the dead covered. How about the living? Anybody know if "Wiccan" is one of the permitted religions to be designated on dogtags?

-xan

Aquila ka Hecate said...

xan afaik 'Wiccan' is permitted on dogtags.

It's one of those thing which made the refusal of the burial marker all the more ludicrous.
But I stand open to correction, not being an American.

Love,
Terri in Joburg

Anonymous said...

I was going to ask if you had a link to those emails, but I looked around and found this: In reviewing 30,000 pages of documents from Veterans Affairs, Americans United said, it found e-mail and memorandums referring to negative comments President Bush made about Wicca in an interview with “Good Morning America” in 1999, when he was governor of Texas. . . . Under the settlement, Americans United had to return the documents and could not copy them, though it could make limited comments about their contents, Mr. Katskee said. (Emphasis added.)

No doubt for reasons of national security.

- Molly, NYC

Anonymous said...

Well, I certainly feel put in my place now. CHUCK COLSON doesn't think pagans are "religious" enough to deserve chaplaincies in the military.

Gee I am so abashed. To be lectured to on the subject of "what constitutes a real religion" by...Chuck Colson. Paragon of virtue and dispenser of sanctitude verification that he is.

--xan

Anonymous said...

I'm so happy to see some progress on this front...for Wiccans, Asatruar, and others. Many groups form and ask fro help from stateside pagans because they are not given support of any sort by the chaplains---who indeed don't know how to do it. I sent a package off this week to an aircraft carrier with about 200 pagans out of its 5000+ crew; they look forward to arrival, as it seems that "accouterments" will give them more legitimacy to ask for SPACE for ritual, etc. I can't say it often and loudly enough: Freedom of Religion does not mean just THEIRS!

Anonymous said...

JAN O'Rourke (Deanna was her middle name) Was/is my best friend and coven sister. I miss her very much. She helped everyone no matter their belief system. She taught me so much. W.W.J.D. (WHAT WOULD JAN DO)LOL is something I use to joke with her about because she was such a good person always giving of herself and her pocket.If everyone acted as Jan just one day a year this would be a much better place.
I miss her so. If anyone knows of a video of the dedication Please send me the information.
heatherhardek@yahoo.com
Thank you and blessings