Washington, D.C.
The Department of Veterans Affairs this week agreed to add the Wiccan pentacle to the list of religious symbols it will inscribe on veterans’ headstones. The agreement ends a lawsuit brought by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, a nonprofit advocacy group, on behalf of the families of several Wiccan worshippers. Wicca is a faith originating in pre-Christian Europe that reveres nature and its cycles. About 1,800 Wicca worshippers serve in the military, the Pentagon says. A total of 38 religious symbols are now approved for use on headstones in military cemeteries.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Ghislaine Maxwell offers testimony for immunitySpeed Read The convicted sex trafficker offered to testify to Congress about her relationship with late boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein
-
July 30 editorial cartoonsCartoons Wednesday’s political cartoons include a beast under the surface, new unemployment officers, and more
-
The Miami Showband massacre, 50 years onThe Explainer Unanswered questions remain over Troubles terror attack that killed three members of one of Ireland's most popular music acts
