Americans United Represents Circle Sanctuary in Wiccan Gravemarker Case

August 3, 2006

Source: Americans United press release

http://www.au.org/media/press-releases/archives/2006/08/presses-va-for-r.html

On August 3, 2006 an Americans United press release reported, "Americans United for Separation of Church and State is stepping up its effort to persuade the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to approve a Wiccan symbol for headstones, plaques and other memorials of deceased veterans.

Americans United is now officially representing Circle Sanctuary, one of America's oldest Wiccan churches, and church member, Roberta Stewart, a Nevada woman whose husband, Sgt. Patrick Stewart, died in combat in Afghanistan on Sept. 25, 2005. Sgt. Stewart's helicopter was shot down by the Taliban during Operation Enduring Freedom. Circle Sanctuary, headquartered near Barneveld, Wisc., has church members throughout the United States and elsewhere. 


Circle Sanctuary and Roberta Stewart seek to have the Wiccan emblem of belief, the pentacle, included on the government-issued memorial plaque honoring Sgt. Stewart. His plaque is to go on the Wall of Heroes at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery near Fernley, Nev.

In addition to Roberta Stewart, Circle Sanctuary has other church members who want the pentacle on the VA-issued memorial markers of their deceased veteran husbands, including a Korean War veteran from Utah and a Vietnam War-era veteran from Ohio."