Yay Wicca! Yay Supreme Court!

In Bloomfield, New Mexico, a monument on government property which legally does not belong there will have to be removed. Members of Bloomfield's Wiccan community have requested that a cheap statue of the ten commandments be removed from the lawn of Bloomfield's city hall building, because it shows a preference for Christianity. The suit was first filed in 2012, and yesterday, the Supreme Court gave the city until September 10 to load it up on a dump truck and dump it somewhere else.

According to Senior District Judge James A. Parker, the monument "has no place on City Hall property". This is because it shows favor of one religion over others, and the United States Government does not exist in order to play religious favorites. The silly-assed Christians who wanted it to remain tried to argue that it has historical significance, but as it was erected in 2011, history was found to have no significance whatsoever. 

There was also a sign alongside of the eyesore statue, announcing that anyone who objected to it's presence is an "outsider". Now that the Supreme Court has sided with the local Wiccans and Pagans, it appears that the "outsiders" are the federal law breakers who wanted to force their religion on everyone.

More Important Than Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! There is more signifigance to this day, November 22, than just Thanksgiving, however. This is the anniversary of of the day that the first pentacle was granted to a soldier in a VA cemetery in the United States, in 2006. Patrick Dana Stewart, of Nevada, died on September 25, 2005, in combat in Afghanistan. The religion he practiced was Wicca, a Pagan religion. Although Pagan religions have been recognized in the United States since 1964, the VA refused to put a pentacle on Stewart's grave marker. One could have Christian, Jewish, or Muslim symbols, but not Wiccan or Pagan. Sargeant Stewart's wife, Roberta Stewart, was stonewalled until 2006 over this. She never should have had to fight while grieving the loss of her husband in the first place. She and her husband should have been treated with respect.

Later on, in August of 2007, President Bush visited Northern Nevada and took the time to meet the widows and families of veterans from the area, with the exception of one. Roberta Stewart. Bush deliberately did not invite her because he felt that it was somehow his place to decide which religions are religions, and which religions are not, and was angry with Mrs. Stewart for challenging the status quo and forcing the military to treat her husband with respect. Here's what the republican creep had to say: "I don't think Witchcraft is a religion, and I wish the military would take another look at this and decide against it.".......Fox News

Later on, Bush took the sage advice he was given and called Mrs. Stewart and apologized to her. While she accepted Bush's apology, this still sends the message that America cares about the loss of a Christian widow, but the loss of a widow who is not Christian does not matter to the republican party. Nice.

As this Thanksgiving is the anniversary of the very first approval of a Pagan symbol on the grave marker of a veteran, it is much more important than merely eating storebought turkey. This is a day that a soldier and his family paved the way for Americans to grant and experience equality and respect to other Pagan soldiers. Two hundred and thirty years overdue. On April 23, 2007, Americans United for Separation of Church and State settled the whole question of religious symbols on military graves and forced the United States to stop showing favortism to any religion. So Mote It Be!