Roberta Stewart was interviewed about the Pentacle for Veterans quest by the Fox News Channel in mid March.  Roberta spoke about the immediate need for the VA to approve the Pentacle so that it can be included on memorial markers for deceased Wiccan veterans, including that of her husband, Sgt. Patrick Stewart, a decorated war hero.  Patrick was killed last Fall in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.  Excerpts from her interview were included in the news story that aired on the Fox News Report on Tuesday evening, March 28.  A video of this news story is now on-line in the "Only on Fox" section of the Fox News website:  Wiccan Warrior: Is Soldier being denied Freedoms for which he fought & died?:  http://www.foxnews.com/

 

 O of A member Neil R. Marsh, a Chehalis Police sergeant who is a member of the Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Olympia, Washington sent this response to Fox: 

 

 “This foot-dragging by the Department of Veterans' Affairs is clearly religious discrimination, particularly when one considers that the majority of the "authorized" symbols are the corporate logos of various Christian denominations.  Fourteen are variations on the simple Christian cross, one (#27, the United Moravian Church) features the "Lamb of God" with halo and a flag bearing a cross.  #20, the Community of Christ, does not use a cross but features the figure of a child flanked by the Lion and the Lamb.  (See http://www.cem.va.gov/hmemb.htm )  It seems it isn't enough to die in the service of one's country - one must also practice an approved religion for the faith that sustained one to be recognized upon one's death.

 

 If the DVA won't follow the First Amendment out of a sense of duty, then

perhaps we shall have to substitute a sense of shame.” 

 

Bojo, our retired cop in Nevada, wrote:

 

 “Shame on the Department of Veterans' Affairs or any other government entity that rejects a spiritual belief, Wiccan or otherwise.

Sgt. Patrick Stewart gave the ultimate sacrifice for his country and fellow man. That there is even the slightest hesitation in allowing his widow to place their religious symbol on the military memorial wall, as other religions are allowed, smacks of discrimination and insult.

Pentacles for Veterans

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Text Box: “This foot-dragging by the Department of Veterans' Affairs is clearly religious discrimination”

Sgt. Stewart on a humanitarian mission in Afghanistan.