ACLU FILES SUIT AGAINST VETERANS ADMINISTRATION
By Christopher Blackwell

On Sept. 30, the ACLU released a press release stating that they filed a lawsuit to protect the rights of veterans and their families to choose the religious symbols to engrave on their headstones in federal cemeteries.

The press release said in part:

“The government has no business picking and choosing which personal religious beliefs may be expressed. All veterans, regardless of their religion, deserve to have their faith recognized on an equal basis," said ACLU of Washington staff attorney Aaron Caplan.

The National Cemetery Administration of the Department of Veteran Affairs had failed since 1997 to take any action on several applications to approve the pentacle of the Wiccan faith as an emblem of belief. Without this approval veteran families were not allowed to have a pentacle engraved on veteran headstones.

As quoted in the press release:

"The federal government’s discriminatory delay in approving these applications must end. There is no good reason to deny grieving families the solace and comfort available to military families of other religions," said Daniel Mach, senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief.

The suit was brought on behalf of two Wiccan churches, the Aquarian Tabernacle Church, formed in 1979 in Index, Washington, and the Correllian Nativist Church International, formed in 1979 with offices in Albany, New York.
Also included were the following individuals as petitioners:

1) Kathleen Egbert of Laurel, M.D., daughter of World War II veteran Abraham Kooiman, a Wiccan who was buried in Arlington National Memorial Cemetery in 2003;

2) Patricia Darlene Howell Corneilson of Kentucky, mother of James Price, a Wiccan who was killed in action while serving in the Army in Iraq in 2004; and

3) Scott Stearns of Kent, WA, a retired disabled U.S. Navy veteran discharged in 1997 and a member of the Aquarian Tabernacle Church.

In his report to Witches Voice (www.witchvox.com) on Oct. 1, Rev. Pierre “Pete” Davis, Archpriest of The Aquarian Tabernacle Church also announced the lawsuit and provided additional details.

The ATC was the first federally recognized Wiccan church organization to put in an application for approval of the Wiccan pentacle, which has been pending since 1997.

The litigation is in the United States Court of Appeal for Veterans Affairs in Washington, D.C. It makes a rare and unusual request for the issuance of a Writ of Mandamus, which is an order of the court directing the VA to grant this petition without further delay. Mandamus relief has only been used three times in the history of the court.

Davis points out that the Veterans Administration, through its Memorials Division, provides free headstones, plaques and bronze markers to mark graves of veterans by request of the survivor. During the nine years that the ATC request has been pending, the VA has taken no action. It has asked for more information and delayed taking action claiming that regulations were being revised twice since, in spite of the fact that the ATC request began before any of these for revisions. No other Wiccan church has gotten any action.

In spite of this other organizations have had their requests granted with little or no delay. The Sikhs got their request approved in less than a week. Another group got their symbol approved without formal application.

The Aquarian Tabernacle Church filed their request in 1997. Correllian Nativist Church International filed 2004. Circle Sanctuary filed 2005. While other religions have gotten prompt action from the VA, none of the three Wiccan churches has.

The State of Nevada has in the case of Patrick Stewart determined that the VA has no jurisdiction over Nevada State Veterans Cemeteries and the governor has ordered a plaque to be provided by the state. While that is a victory for Roberta Stewart and Circle Sanctuary it has no affect on getting the pentacle on headstones from other Wiccan veterans.

According to Davis the Writ of Mandamus was the last stage for action within the VA before there would be an opportunity to take the case to Federal District Court. If the request is approved, then the battle is over for everyone. If it is denied, then the right to appeal the Court of Appeal for Veterans Claims decision can then can be appealed to Federal District Court.

In his WitchVox report Rev. Davis said, “Our American fighting men and women are proud of their faith, whatever that may be, and all are equally entitled to have the symbol of their chosen faith displayed on their headstone or marker as is traditionally done in this country, without governmental interference. The lack of any action whatsoever by the VA on Wiccan applications for over nine years while simultaneously granting requests of other faiths is a clear indictment of the petty motivations behind the VA failure to act on this. It has been an effective weapon of denial for Wiccans, creating an almost insurmountable roadblock to requests for the pentacle. A request can’t be made by a survivor until their emblem of belief is included in the VA's numbered list. Survivors must request symbols by number from that list, and not by symbol or faith name. This court action should bring to a close once and for all the VA’s almost decade-long stonewalling tactics or clear the roadway for resolution in the higher Federal District Court, if that becomes necessary.”

For more information, contact Rev. Pierre C. “Pete” Davis at the Aquarian Tabernacle Church, Box 409, Index, WA 98256. Telephone: (360) 793-1945.

For the lawsuit itself:

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans
Claims in Washington, DC. Caplan and Mach are representing the petitioners in today’s lawsuit, Egbert v. Nicholson.
A copy of today’s complaint is online at:

www.aclu.org/religion/discrim/26968lgl20060929.html