VA DELAYS DECISION AGAIN
By Christopher Blackwell

Hopes for getting a pentacle for Sergeant Patrick Stewart’s official VA memorial plaque were dashed again by the VA, after already long passing their original promised Feb. 28 date to make a decision. It has been ten months since Army National Guard man’s helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan. He was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

Sgt. Stewart is believed to be the first Wiccan to die in the war in Afghanistan according to a July 4 Washington Post article. The Pentagon says that there are more than 1,800 Wiccan in active duty in the Armed Services.

The Reno Gazette-Journal in July reported that Josephine Schuda, spokeswoman for the VA central office in Washington, DC, explained that department lawyers said that the process used by National Cemetery Administration to establish the recent directives regarding the approval process may not be “legally sufficient”. She said the lawyers were reviewing the process and this is causing further delay.

In a column for the First Amendment Center, senior scholar Charles C.
Haynes said, “It’s also possible that VA lawyers are beginning to realize that any guidelines for government-sanctioned “emblems of belief,” however carefully crafted, are unworkable. In a nation where people are completely free to choose in matters of faith, the government should stop trying to figure out which symbols are “acceptable” and instead allow each family to choose whatever symbol best represents their convictions.”

Patrick's widow, Roberta Stewart, was scheduled to see Undersecretary of Memorial Affairs William Tuerk during her 4th of July visit and rally.

On July 6, the Review-Journal reported that Tuerk told her that no action on allowing the use of the pentacle on Sgt. Stewart's memorial plaque would be taken anytime soon.

This is the second time that the rules were blamed for delay. The old rules had required that a central authority of the religion assert that a symbol was recognized by the religion. Wicca has no acknowledged central authority. Approval of the new rules delayed considering approval of the pentacle for three years. Various Wiccans had sought approval of it for nine years before Roberta Stewart started on her quest for approval of the pentacle for her husband’s memorial plaque in the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley, Nev.

On June 8, Americans United entered the fray and released a press release about a letter they sent to VA, requesting that it respect religious diversity by allowing the pentacle not only for Sgt.
Patrick Sterwart's memorial plaque but also for all other Wiccans family’s deceased veterans. They asked for an answer in 30 days to avoid litigation. They stated that the National Cemetery Administration's refusal to recognize the Wiccan Pentacle was an unconstitutional discrimination.

With the VA’s latest excuse for a delay it appears that a lawsuit may be the only remaining course of action.

The Washington Post reported that the retired chaplain for Stewart‘s National Guard unit, retired Army Chaplain William Chrystal, a United Church of Christ minister, has backed Roberta Stewart's’ request. He suggested politics might be involved.

He said, "It's such a clear First Amendment issue, I can't even conceive of why they are not granting it, except for political reason. I think the powers that be are afraid they'll alienate conservative Christians if they approve a symbol that [to some of them] connotes witches and warlocks casting spells and brewing potions."