The Wiccans' Grave Difficulty
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."