Friday, March 24, 2006

Dear Secretary Nicholson,

This letter is an appeal for your help in expediting VA approval of our church’s request for the Pentacle, the emblem of belief of the Wiccan religion. We are requesting to be added to the US Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration’s list of approved emblems of belief. These are the emblems that can be included on government-issued memorial markers, headstones, and plaques for deceased veterans.

It has been nearly a year since our church made our request for this addition to the NCA list. Our church was the first to reapply under the new procedures adopted by the VA in October 2005. The new procedures require that there be an immediate need, and we have fulfilled that requirement as well as have complied with all of the other requirements set forth in the new procedures. Our January 6, 2006 reapplication has been in process for nearly three months now.

The new immediate need requirement is challenged by the slow speed of the decision making process on our request, and the delay is becoming increasingly problematic. Our church now has three widows awaiting the VA’s approval of the addition of the Pentacle to the National Cemetery Administration’s list. The delay is causing considerable stress to grieving church members and is also presenting scheduling challenges for the planning of community memorial services to honor our deceased veterans. We need to be able to finalize planning for these memorial services.

This Spring, we will be holding memorial services for each of these veterans at our church cemetery in Wisconsin. Our church’s memorial service for Sgt. Patrick Stewart, a war hero from Nevada killed September 25, 2005 in Operation Enduring Freedom, is scheduled in mid-April. A memorial service for our Korean War veteran from Utah who died this past November, and whose grave still remains unmarked is scheduled for the beginning of May. In June, we will be holding a service at the anniversary of the death of our deceased Vietnam War veteran from Ohio and we need to have his marker installed in time for this service.

In my March 16, 2006 letter to Under Secretary William F. Tuerk, I explained these needs. In his March 17 reply, he said “I cannot tell you what sort of timeline you can anticipate on VA's consideration of your request, and others' requests, for approval of your "emblem of belief" because I do not know how long it will take. That said I can assure you that I will give this matter my immediate attention.”

I appreciate that our request is actively under consideration. I am hoping that our request will be approved this month in order that production of the markers can begin. I learned from the Memorial Programs Service office that there is a possibility that production can be expedited.

We are encouraged that the Bush administration has publicly spoken out about the importance of religious freedom in the world. We agree with worldwide publicized remarks made yesterday by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that there is no more fundamental issue to the United States than freedom of religion and religious conscience.

We strongly agree with President Bush’s own remarks made in his Religious Freedom Day proclamation on January 15, 2005: “We reject religious bigotry in every form, striving for a society that honors the life and faith of every person. As we maintain the vitality of a pluralistic society we work to ensure equal treatment of faith-based organizations and people of faith.”

We appreciate any assistance you can give in expediting the approval of the Pentacle so that, at last, our veterans and those of other denominations who have this as their emblem of belief can have their faith recognized and honored at their gravesites.

Sincerely,

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