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."

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.

Here's what Candidate Bush said:

I don't think that witchcraft is a religion. I wish the military would rethink this decision."
-- George W. Bush to ABCNEWS, June, 1999

Fortunately, they did not, but getting to the point where Wiccans were permitted to worship freely in the military was not easy. I should know, because I was there.

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 entry 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 enlisted, 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 occult and metaphysical 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 religious implements simply disappeared. I was regularly accosted and harangued 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. When I was sexually assaulted by a neighbor at another base, I was asked to pray with the First Sergeant for salvation from my sinful ways. He did not see a person who had suffered an assault in her own home- he saw a way to bring a hallbound Witch to Jesus, and what happened to me was a Sign From God that I needed to be Saved.

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.

AU continues:

"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.

The pentacle is now included on a VA list Available Symbols for Placement on Grave Markers on its official site.

It's about damn time.

If anything, the treatment of Wiccans and Pagans in the armed forces is a sample of the dhimmitude that the theocrats would impose on all the 'unsaved' people should they sieze power. I've had the experience of having rights denied, property stolen or vandalized, my word dismissed, my work sabotaged and my career ended by such attitudes. I am far better off now then I was 20 years ago, but I still worry about my fellow Pagans who are still serving in that environment.

But, at least for now, I can feel a sense of a mission completed- and that my comrades-in-arms and in faith will have their final wishes properly serviced by the country they sacrificed their lives to defend.

Rest in peace, Sgt. Stewart and co.