The widow of a National Guard seargant killed in Afghanistan last year is protesting the military's decision not to allow a pentagram — the symbol of his faith — on his grave in a military cemetary.
Stewart was a follower of the Wiccan religion, which is not recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs for use in its cemeteries.
Stewart's widow, Roberta, said she will wait until her family's religion — and its five-pointed star enclosed in a circle, with one point facing skyward — is recognized for use on memorials before Stewart's plaque is installed. "It's completely blank," Roberta Stewart said, pointing to her husband's place on the memorial.
She said she had no idea the pentacle could not be used on her husband's memorial plaque until she had to deal with the agency after the death of her husband. "It's discrimination," she said. "They are discriminating against our religion."
Reader comment: damion armentrout says,
Many of my dead female relatives have the Masonic symbol for the Order of the Eastern Star on their gravestones. It is a downward pointing pentagram that is sometimes colored in sections. Would the military allow this, and not the upward facing symbol of a fallen soldier's faith?
Reader comment: patrick says,
I heard the same Wiccan Tombstone article on Penn Gilette's radio show. But the following day, he announced the military had changed it's mind and was going to add the symbol. Couldn't find a website to support it, but I can't of been the only one to hear the show.
Reader comment: Jason Pitzl-Waters says,
Here is the Pagan Headstone Campaign. They've been working for some time to get the pentacle (and eventually other Pagan symbols) allowed on military headstones and memorials. This has been a uphill struggle for years. Not too long ago Anissa Alford, the director of communications for the VA's National Cemetery Administration said this about the matter. "We want people to prove that there is a viable organization. … We're not going to willy-nilly approve emblems until there is a need." (Link) So it remains to be seen how open they will be to our requests for equal treatment.
