VA Allows Wiccan Symbol On Grave Markers

i am kinda mixed on that , but several of the wiccans i know also go to a normal church lol so

It is about time! These people have paid with their lives for us and then for their families to be told, "No, your beliefs are of no importance." Ridiculous! Figures Bush would say Wicca is not a religion. He knows so little about so many things.

Maybe this is a symbol of America coming out of the dark ages?

Thanks for posting this - I would have missed it

As it should have been all along... Wasn't this country based on freedom of religion? I get really tired of the whole "if you're not christian, you're nobody" attitude in this country.

WONDERFUL! It's about time!

What's a "normal" church anyway?!

I think it's about time they've done this. It is after all a first amendment right to practice our chosen religion or spiritual beliefs. Or to NOT practice anything.

Can't believe it took so long.

That's what I was thinking.

I couldn't read the actual article (I'm at work and certain sites are inaccessible to me), but I'm curious ... Is it only because these people were Wiccan that their symbols were previously denied, or were other non-Christian religions similarly discriminated against?

lol that would take to long and a whole new thread i think


I think it goes back before then , i thought they had started to try back in the 1970's i remember something about that as a kid.

If people are prepared to fight and die for their country, they should be able to have an appropriate memorial according to their religion, if that is what they want.

I come from a Wiccan background (although I am not Wiccan myself, but atheist, I find this a little odd in that most wiccans would want a tree planting rather than a stone memorial but whatever they want as individuals is obviously what should be done) and it is only right that people's beliefs are recognised.

That is kind of painful... I cannot imagine hiding your beliefs from your spouse. It's easy to fake any religion, and in places where a religion is mandatory at pain of death, there are many doing it right now. Should they though? It says a lot about the so-called religious tolerance that she feels she needs to. Not that it's everyone's business, or that she couldn't keep up the pastor's-wife schtick, but that he doesnt know?

And yea, if you've died for your country you should be allowed to have the symbol you want on your grave. I can't even think of a valid argument against it.

My youngest sister is Asatru, and she is married to a Christian youth pastor, and he doesn't know. She says its actually really easy to fake.

IMO that is NOT the way to be starting a marriage by withholding information from each other. How long have they been married?

While i do not practice nor believe in that religion- i do believe that those soldiers shed their lives to uphold laws and morals that this country was founded on...one of which was the freedom of religion...i think that if that is their religion- it should be represented with their final resting spot's marker if that is their wish. I would not want someone to deny me a marker simply because i'm a Christian/ converted Jew....so i feel like they should have theirs as well. It's only fair to them! My family was in Europe during the Holocaust- over 3/4 of my family on my fathers side at that time were killed because of their faith. I would NEVER want to be mistreated because of mine or heck, killed for it. (it really puts things into perspective when you think about things that way) Those people deserve their marker's to be marked just as every other soldier of a different religion.

Good! I think thats a lot wiser than keeping it from him!

Having just seen the thread about the KKK elsewhere on tcs I'm pleased to see some happier news

I'd have a tree planted as more the pagan tradition these days

i don't understand why people can't understand this...

Excuse me but lately the Christians are being more persecutd and told to shut up about ANYTHING in the Bible. Everyone seems to be protected but Christians!

In general, our society has become more and more polarized in lots of ways.

But I don't think anyone in this thread said anything about taking away the crosses on the other soldiers graves... or anything else of the sort. Can you tell me where in the thread you are getting that idea, because I honestly don't see it?

well, no one's told me to shut up lately, & i certainly don't feel persecuted or unprotected... i might if i lived elsewhere. if you look at some of my posts, you'll know that i am an evangelical fundamentalist Christian. i don't see what that has to do with soldiers being allowed to put their religious symbol on their grave, which is the point of this thread.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AlleyGirl View Post
As it should have been all along... Wasn't this country based on freedom of religion? I get really tired of the whole "if you're not christian, you're nobody" attitude in this country.


I mentioned about Christians being told they can't do this/that, etc. - because of her comment about "freedom of religion" - if you look around, the Christians are the ones told you cannot speak out about what is in the Bible cause it might "offend" someone. If you want specific examples, pm me - I have a ton of them

Now there's an idea for a whole other thread...

Anyway, though, I was going to post on this the other day and don't think I ever did... but if this particular cemetary is anything like.. Arlington, where you have the option to be buried there if you want as an honor, it would be an option and not something someone is forced to do... however, I do think that all either all religions in everything open to the public should have representation (where there is *any* religion represented) OR there should be no religion represented at all. I don't think it's fair to represent one religion and not all, unless of course, we were talking about something specific to a particular religion, like a church or synagogue, etc.

Anyway, the point here being that while I do think all religions should be represented, if that cemetary is like Arlington where it's an "honor" bestowed upon someone.. it's very traditional and it's an option or choice to be buried there and not a requirement, so in theory, people could pick to be buried somewhere else if they didn't like the choices. That being said though.. which view is right.. choose to be buried somewhere else if that's an option? Or fight for the right to represent whatever it is that you believe. I think everyone is entitled to their beliefs but, does this fall into a category of.. well, "you live in my house, live by my rules" type of thing? I guess what I'm getting at here is, is this public or private?

I admit I only read part of the article because I didn't have enough time to read it all.

i guess i must just offend people, then!

I believe freedom of religion means holding your beliefs, not trying to impose them on others, and respecting others' beliefs. Of course, my beliefs, or lack of them, even confuse me: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...5&postcount=21

Just to give a totally frivolous example: If somebody believes in a supreme walrus as a deity, that's fine with me, as long as they don't start preaching that I'm going to spend all eternity in the stomach of a giant octopus because I don't believe the same thing.

I see nothing wrong with the VA allowing Wiccan symbols, and don't feel that it "belittles" Christian beliefs in any way.

Yeah, try living as a pagan for a little while. Christians persecuted? I don't think so! Come on - they are just NOW approving the Wiccan symbol to be included on veterans' graves, whereas the cross has aways been accepted. Yet, paganism (Wicca) has been around for longer than Christianity. Go figure.

Yes, there are some nutjobs out there who want freedom FROM all religion, and since Christianity is the HUGE majority that's what they target. But most of society still caters to Christians, accepts Christian morals as the basis of truth and upstanding character. Christian holidays are celebrated by the whole of society - with the major ones being federal holidays. I don't see Yom Kippur or Solstace given those same treatment.

Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't begrudge Christians anything. I think it's stupid that we can't say Merry Christmas, whether for the Christian meaning or the commercial holiday. I think it's stupid that they try to outlaw the 10 Commandments from government buildings, including schools. Regardless of what you believe, 8 of the 10 are just plain good rules to live by. I fully believe in Majority Rules, Minority Rights, including religion, which is how I believe the Constitution was framed. I just don't buy into the whole Christian Persecution Complex that I see when y'all are the majority and run the show for the most part (with the exception of the way out there 9th Circuit Federal Court in California that will rule against anything remotely conservative, including religion).