Widow wins fight to have Wiccan symbol for fallen soldier

September 14, 2006

(RNS) A memorial plaque for an American soldier will be displayed with a symbol for his Wiccan faith, despite the federal government's refusal to display the marker.

Sgt. Patrick Stewart, the posthumous recipient of the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, was killed in Afghanistan in September 2005. Stewart's spot on the memorial wall at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley, Nev., has stayed empty, because his widow, Roberta Stewart, was not allowed to include a Wiccan symbol on the plaque.

The Wiccan faith -- which involves nature worship and belief in magical powers -- is not on the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' list of 38 approved religions.

But the Nevada attorney general informed the state Office of Veterans Services that the state has the authority to put up the marker in the state cemetery.

The Nevada agency will pay for the bronze plaque and put it on the memorial wall. The plaque will feature the Wiccan symbolic pentacle: a five-pointed star contained in a circle, representing earth, wind, fire, water and spirit.

"I'm honored and ecstatic," Roberta Stewart, who is also a Wiccan, told the Associated Press. "I've been waiting a year for this."

Tim Tetz, executive director of the Nevada Office of Veterans Services, did not have an estimate on the cost of the plaque or a timeline for when it would be erected.

"I am pleased we are able to recognize Sgt. Stewart's sacrifice and the ideals for which he stood," Tetz said in a statement.

-- Kat Glass