Religion and Death Markers

I've posted non-opinions here before on whether crosses should be used to memorialize those who perished in Blacksburg last week.  

Yesterday, the Department of Veterans Affairs settled a 10-year old lawsuit led by the Americans United for the Separation of Church and State on behalf of Wiccans to allow their symbol to be used on the military graves of believers.

It's both surprising and not that such a case would come up.

On one hand, I never knew that there were that many people who would take this issue seriously enough.  On the other hand, Christiabigots can be a stubborn bunch when it comes to "weird" religions like Wicca.

I mean, come on.  These Wiccans don't hold the self-evident truths such as a person who is also God at the same time died on a cross at the hands of the Jews to save the rest of the world from its sins.  They don't believe that every Sunday, millions of people partake in eating his body and drinking his blood to celebrate this sacrifice.

If they don't believe in things like this that are in no need of context and faith to accept, than can theirs truly be called one of the world's great religions?

Pshaw!

We walk down a thorny path when the State, or its representatives, are in the business of declaring what a valid and invalid religion is.    

I've less problem than others (and you know who you are!) with religious expression on state property and time (Christmas scenes at the town hall, moments of silence in school for reflection, etc.) but such policies and decisions have to be made carefully and with knowledge of how wide a road you need to pave in order to be fair.

After this post, I better get down to Holy Rosary to get my halo recharged.