Wicca and Libel

Clark High School in Hammond, Indiana freshman Irma Patton home Friday, March 10, 2000, after she repeatedly refused to remove or cover her pentagram ring and button.

Clark High administrators asserted they were simply enforcing a rule banning gang paraphernalia and symbols. A Chicago street gang, the Latin Kings, uses an upright pentagram as their symbol, and Assistant Principal Pat Prorok said that "he did not want to create a double standard with a symbol associated with violent gangs...." Tom Knarr, Hammond school district assistant superintendent, confirmed that "any symbol that might be associated with gangs is prohibited." School administrators further say they have an overriding interest in protecting the students from any disruption in the educational environment, and in preventing violence and drug activity at the school.

Irma and her mother, Wanda Patton, are Wiccans who practice with a local coven and are protesting the school's action. They have given media interviews to the local press in which Wanda was quoted as saying: ""A Wiccan's pentacle is clearly an expression of her or his faith, just as a cross is an expression of Christian faith. These and other religious symbols are constitutionally protected religious speech."

The Wiccans further assert that Irma's jewelry is distinct from the Latin Kings' symbol in that the Wiccan pentagram is enclosed in a circle. Wanda also stated that the Christian cross can also be associated with gang members, but that only her daughter's religious symbols were banned in this manner -- and not even universally, as neither the five-pointed star on the badges police wear in the schools nor those found in every classroom on the American flag were forbidden or required to be covered up.

Patton v Hammond School District comes before the District Court at the same time a second case is being filed in Elwood, Indiana in which two students, Shauntee Chaffin and Brandi Lehman, were told they could not wear their pentacles while participating in a program as teacher's aids at a local elementary school.

Amid a sea of memorial plaques at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery, one space remains blank.

That space is waiting to be filled by a plaque honoring the life and sacrifice of 34-year-old Sgt. Patrick Stewart, who was killed in action on September 25, 2005, when his helicopter was struck with a rocket-propelled grenade as it flew over Afghanistan. But it may be some time before Sgt. Stewart is remembered with a memorial plaque. That's because his war widow and the Department of Veterans Affairs are at odds over the Stewart family's request to have the Wiccan pentacle, a five-pointed star surrounded by a circle, placed on the plaque. As of May 31, 2006, government officials have refused to allow the Wiccan symbol to be placed on Stewart's plaque.

Sgt. Stewart identified himself as belonging to the Wiccan faith. Although Wiccans are not considered part of America's mainstream religious establishment, they are a growing minority. According to 2005 Defense Department statistics, approximately 1,800 active-duty service members identify themselves as belonging to the alternative religion that subscribes to magical activities and Earth worship.

According to federal guidelines, only approved religious symbols can be placed on government headstones or memorial plaques. Included among the approved symbols are those that represent such mainstream religions as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism. And while the list does not include a symbol for the Wiccan faith, incredibly enough, it does include symbols for atheism and humanism.

Whatever one's opinion might be about the Wiccan faith, there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that the First Amendment to our U.S. Constitution provides for religious freedom for all individuals of all faiths-- whether they are Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, Wiccans, or any other.

The United States Supreme Court has routinely held that discrimination by the government against particular expressions of religion is unconstitutional. In the Supreme Court's 1963 ruling in Sherbert v. Vernor, Justice William J. Brennan observed, "The door of the Free Exercise Clause stands tightly closed against any governmental regulation of religious beliefs where there is no overriding state interest in maintaining order." In that same opinion, Justice Brennan wrote that "Government may neither compel affirmation of a repugnant belief, nor penalize or discriminate against individuals or groups because they hold religious views abhorrent to the authorities."

Yet by refusing to place the Wiccan symbol on Sgt. Stewart's memorial plaque, while permitting symbols of other religions and non-religions, the government is clearly engaging in discrimination-- which is a shoddy way to treat someone who has died in service to his country.

Having posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart to Sgt. Stewart, the U.S. government intends that he should be remembered for his bravery and sacrifice. Yet what his widow, Roberta Stewart, will remember is the fact that her husband died defending the country that is denying him the right to express his religious freedom.

Hours before official Memorial Day ceremonies were set to begin at the Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery, Patrick Stewart's widow gathered at a park a few miles away to hold an alternative service in honor of her husband, his faith, and his service to his country. Speaking to a gathering of approximately 200 friends and family, Roberta Stewart declared, "This is discrimination against our religion. I ask you to help us remember that all freedoms are worth fighting for."

How do we remember?

We do so by renewing our resolve to preserve and protect our freedoms. As President Ronald Reagan remarked as he looked out upon a sea of headstones at Arlington National Cemetery on a Memorial Day many years ago"

"The sight before us is that of a strong and good nation that stands in silence and remembers those who were loved and who, in return, loved their countrymen enough to die for them. Yet we must try to honor them-- not for their sakes alone, but for our own. And if words cannot repay the debt we owe these men, surely with our actions we must strive to keep faith with them and with the vision that led them to battle and to final sacrifice."

If we are to keep faith with Sgt. Stewart and the other brave men and women who have died in service to the United States, then we must remember that all rights hang together. That is both the genius and the strength of the American system.

Although our country was founded on a Judeo-Christian base, the Framers of the U.S. Constitution understood that religious freedom was for everyone, not just Christians. In other words, the only way that freedom can prevail for Christians is for them to stand up and fight for the minority beliefs and religions of others.

Without it, freedom will most likely be lost. And we will be left wondering whose freedoms we are really fighting for.