line -->
  • Tuesday, March 07, 2006

     

    No Pagan Headstones for US Military Personnel

    A little blurb on AlternetPEEK (No freedom of religion for Wiccan soldier) led me to the Pagan Headstone Campaign.

    I find it kind of strange that they allow many other less-than-mainstream faiths to put symbols on their military headstones but not Wiccans. It's not as if Wiccans haven't been fighting for military recognition of their religion for, oh, well over twenty years. While I question the accuracy of the figure quoted below, I do know that are a significant number of Pagans in the military. (The organizers have conflated Paganism and Wicca. Technically, Wicca is a subset of modern Neo-Paganism and the Pentacle is not a representative symbol for a large number of these other Neo-Pagans.) Below is a sample of faiths they do recognize from the Pagan Headstone Campaign website.
    We demand to know why Paganism, with nearly a million members in this country and so many members serving in the Armed Forces, is less acceptable than: The Aaronic Order, The American Atheist Association, The Konko-Kyo Faith, Sufism Reoriented, The Tenrikyo Church, Seicho-no-ie, The Church of World Messianity, The United Church of Religious Science, Eckankar, The American Humanist Association, The Izumo Taishakyo Mission of Hawaii, and Soka Gakkai Int'l. All of these groups have had their emblems accepted while some Pagan groups have waited seven years to have their application acted upon.



    << Home

    This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

    -->