This is just wrong!

Fallen Wiccan soldier left with no memorial The VA refuses to approve faith's symbol on plaque By ALAN COOPERMAN Washington Post

WASHINGTON - At the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in the small town of Fernley, Nev., there is a wall of brass plaques for local heroes. But one space is blank. There is no memorial for Sgt. Patrick Stewart. That's because Stewart was a Wiccan, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has refused to allow a symbol of the Wicca religion — a five-pointed star within a circle, called a pentacle — to be inscribed on U.S. military memorials or grave markers. The department has approved the symbols of 38 other faiths; about half are versions of the Christian cross. It also allows the Jewish Star of David, the Muslim crescent, the Buddhist wheel, the Mormon angel, the nine-pointed star of Bahai and something that looks like an atomic symbol for atheists. Stewart, 34, is believed to be the first Wiccan killed in combat. He was serving in the Nevada National Guard when the helicopter in which he was riding was shot down in Afghanistan in September. He was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. His widow, Roberta Stewart, scattered his ashes in the hills above Reno and would like him to have a permanent memorial. She said the veterans cemetery in Fernley offered to install a plaque with his name and no religious symbol. She refused. "I feel very strongly that my husband fought for the Constitution of the United States," she said. "He was proud of his spirituality and of being a Wiccan, and he was proud of being an American." Wicca is one of the fastest-growing faiths in the country. Its adherents have increased almost 17-fold from 8,000 in 1990 to 134,000 in 2001, according to the American Religious Identification Survey. The Pentagon says that more than 1,800 Wiccans are on active duty in the armed forces. Not devil worshippers Wiccans still suffer, however, from the misconception that they are devil worshippers. Some Wiccans call themselves witches, pagans or neopagans. Most of their rituals revolve around the cycles of nature, such as equinoxes. Federal courts have recognized Wicca as a religion since 1986. Prisons across the country treat it as a legitimate faith, as do the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. military, which allows Wiccan ceremonies on its bases. But applications from Wiccan groups and individuals to VA for use of the pentacle on grave markers have been pending for nine years. Department spokeswoman Josephine Schuda said VA turned down Wiccans in the past because religious groups used to be required to list a headquarters or central authority, which Wicca does not have. But that requirement was eliminated last year, she noted.

Sorry to say, my daughter is a Wiccan (yes, I pray... frequently). Why would this young man be denied his place of honor just because his "faith" was different. Doesn't the First Amendment guarantee his right to worship as he pleased?