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Wiccan Headstones
Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 10:58 pm
by Sparrowhawk
After dragging its feet for a decade, the Department of Veterans Affairs this week agreed to honor requests for pentacles on military headstones. Over the years, the department has officially approved 38 religious symbols, but Wiccans were denied this courtesy until they filed a lawsuit. The discrimination was so egregious that it made allies of two groups that are often at odds over Establishment Clause issues:
"The Wiccan families we represented were in no way asking for special treatment," the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United [for the Separation of Church and State], said at a news conference Monday. "They wanted precisely the same treatment that dozens of other religions already had received from the department, an acknowledgment that their spiritual beliefs were on par with those of everyone else."...
"I was just aghast that someone who would fight for their country and die for their country would not get the symbol he wanted on his gravestone," said John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, which litigates many First Amendment cases. "It's just overt religious discrimination."
Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 12:06 am
by Dr. Mobius
I want one of those darwin fishes on my gravestone. How well do think that one will fly in the courts?
Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 3:25 am
by jotabe
Sorry Dr. M, but evolution isn't a belief.
It's a fact, as best as science can prove.
Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 1:00 pm
by Dr. Mobius
But atheism is a belief, or a lack there of.
Does atheism even have a symbol? The best I can find is IPU.
Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 2:55 pm
by Rei
Didn't you know that the IPU is available for Atheist headstones? They're more expensive, though, because of the skill required in carving something invisibly.
Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:25 pm
by Boothby
Do you have to use pink granite? Or would that be beside the point?
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 4:43 am
by jotabe
You'd have to use, actually, invisible pink granite. But as Galicia is one of the main world producers of pink granite, by all means, please use pink granite
Dr. M, please, stick to IPU... i wouldn't like any scientific discovery to become the symbol of a belief (I'd say that lack of belief is more like agnosticism than atheism).
Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2007 12:17 pm
by Dr. Mobius
I think I'll stick to the civilian cemeteries where they'll let you put just about anything on those things.
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:00 pm
by hive_king
Actually, the Atheist headstone for the military shows a model of an atom with all of the electron paths and has an "A" in the middle. Or you could go with organized atheism and get the Humanist symbol.
Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:52 pm
by Jebus
Do Agnostics get a question mark as their symbol?
Posted: Tue May 01, 2007 2:16 am
by zeroguy
There might be one for Agnostics, but if there is, none of them knows what it is.
Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 6:02 am
by Sparrowhawk
It's an arrow pointing down, towards the grave.
Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 5:40 pm
by Slim
These are pictures of all available emblems of belief for placement on government headstones and markers.
I think it's funny how on their list, some they have to explain what the picture is. Sure, explaining that the Mormon one is the angel Moroni makes sence, but you would think that people would be able to figure out from looking at (for example) the Muslim picture that it is a crescent and star.
Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 6:02 pm
by Matty
I like the Russian Orthodox cross. It looks like a street sign at some kind of crazy six-way intersection.
Posted: Wed May 02, 2007 10:52 pm
by Sparrowhawk
Interesting how many obscure, small organisations they've chosen to accomodate over the years, but it took over a decade for them to acknowledge Wicca. I mean, Seicho-No-Ie? Church of World Messianity? WTF is Eckankar? And to acknowledge something like "humanism" and the crazy atheist atomic symbol but still resist Wicca? It just doesn't make much sense.
Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 1:55 am
by jotabe
Well, Slim, that reminds me of heraldic.
When you are given the coat of arms of your family, you are given a brief description.
In any case, it looks normal to give description of every symbol, even if only some of them would actually need it.
For example, i wouldn't think that the LSD symbol was the angel Moroni, i was thinking it reminded me more of the angel with the trumpets, in the Apocalypse.