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!