Americans United has won a settlement against the Bush administration after a pattern of bias against minority religions was revealed.
Ya think? That 'bias' ended my career in the USAF because I dared to poke my head out and say, "Enough".
More over the jump...
Here's the main points of the AU Story:
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.
The settlement agreement, filed today with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, brings to a successful conclusion a lawsuit Americans United brought against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in November.
The litigation charged that denying a pentacle to deceased Wiccan service personnel, while granting religious symbols to those of other traditions, violated the U.S. Constitution.
"This settlement has forced the Bush Administration into acknowledging that there are no second class religions in America, including among our nation’s veterans," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. "It is a proud day for religious freedom in the United States."
Continued Lynn, "Sadly, the refusal of the federal government to recognize the Wiccan pentacle seems to have been built on inexcusable bias, a foundation that has crumbled under the press of this litigation."
Yep- I remember the exact quote Candidate Bush made:
I don't think that witchcraft is a religion. I wish the military would rethink this decision."
-- George W. Bush to ABCNEWS, June, 1999
Happily, the military didn't. Wicca, (and a few other Pagan faiths) are officially recognized by the military, and Wicca is listed in the Army Chaplain's Handbook. (I helped to create that entry...) That didn't make it a bed of roses for military members who chose to state their faith group, but at least they were able to put their faith group on their dogtags (Wicca), and have gatherings and qualified faith group assistants to help them out.
I could not list Wicca on my dogtags while I was in, and I served between '79 and '92. I could have "No Religious Preference" or "Other". I did have a friend in the CBPO do a dogtag on the sly for me before I got out- it said "Pagan". But my faith was not only not recognized, it was actively discouraged.
I was not 'out' about my faith- with all the aggressive evangelicals around me, that would have been foolish. But junior enlisted people who live in the barracks do not have privacy, and soon my library- such as it was- was discovered. I found books missing and replaced with religious books, tracts in my other books, and some of my implements simply disappeared. I was regularly accosted by religious people and warned that I was going to burn in hell. When I chose not to attend religious sponsored events on base, I was given scut-work duty. And when I placed a small ad in the European Stars and Stripes hoping to start a round-robin correspondence for fellow Pagans and Wiccans (this was before the Internet), the shit hit the fan. I had my fifteen minutes of unwanted fame, and then was demoted and honorably discharged after my work was repeatedly sabotaged, and then documented by religious colleagues determined to see me gone.
I put that behind me and moved on. Then came the case of Sgt. Patrick Stewart, who was killed while serving overseas. Stewart was a Wiccan, and the DOD denied him permission to have the symbol of his faith, a pentacle, put on his grave marker.
The irony is that the VA has a very long selection of other faiths whose symbols could mark the graves of the fallen. Even Atheists have a symbol. I was happy to note that the Wiccan pentacle is now included.
But why did it take so long for this to happen? Simple: Religious bias from the current administration.
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.
"Many people have asked me why the federal government was so stubborn about recognizing the Wiccan symbol," said AU’s Lynn. "I did not want to believe that bias toward Wiccans was the reason, but that appears to have been the case. That’s discouraging, but I’m pleased we were able to put a stop to it."
"It is rank hypocrisy for this administration to claim publicly that it cares about religious freedom and equality but then to quietly and deliberately discriminate against a minority faith like Wicca," she said. "Until now, this administration’s view has been that Wiccans are good enough to fight for their country, but not good enough to be acknowledged with a proper headstone."
Under the terms of the Circle Sanctuary v. Nicholson settlement, the federal government will recognize the right of Wiccans to have the pentacle made available as an emblem of belief for inscription on headstones, grave markers and memorial plaques. The VA will add the symbol to its list of available emblems of belief.
In addition, the VA will make markers bearing the pentacle — an encircled, intertwined five-pointed star — available to the families of Stewart, Birnbaum and others who request them.
AU noted that the VA’s list of 38 approved symbols for government gravestones, markers and plaques includes emblems for Christians, Muslims, Atheists, Hindus, Humanists and members of the Eckankar, Serbian Orthodox and United Moravian faiths.
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.
Wicca is a nature-based religion grounded in pre-Christian beliefs. Circle Sanctuary says the Wiccan religion honors the Divine as both Mother and Father, encompasses love and respect of Nature, celebrates the cycles of Sun and Moon, and encourages adherents to live in harmony with other humans and the greater Circle of Life.
So now my brothers and sisters in arms can truly rest in peace. It's a small triumph, but a triumph nonetheless. And the mission that my Wiccan colleagues and I began 20 years ago - to be recognized and treated fairly- is now complete.