c. 2006 Religion News Service

Wiccans Sue for Pentacle Marker on Veterans’ Graves

WASHINGTON (RNS) A prominent church-state watchdog group filed suit Monday (Nov. 13) against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for not recognizing the Wiccan symbol as an approved emblem for veterans’ memorial plaques.

Thirty-eight symbols representing numerous faiths are on the VA’s approved list. The Wiccan pentacle _ a five-pointed star contained in a circle _ is not.

“Members of the Wiccan faith are not seeking anything that is not already available and extended to millions of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, humanists, atheists and members of other faiths and philosophies,” said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Americans United is representing two Wiccan groups: Circle Sanctuary, which counts two widows of U.S. veterans as members; and Isis Invicta Military Mission, a Wiccan and Pagan congregation serving military personnel.

Roberta Stewart’s husband, Sgt. Patrick Stewart, was killed in action last year in Afghanistan. Karen DePolito’s husband, Jerome Birnbaum, a Korean War veteran, died last year.

“When the framers of our Constitution wrote the provision guaranteeing the `free exercise’ of religion,” Lynn said, “they did not add a parenthetical phrase reading `except for Wiccans.”’

Sgt. Stewart, the posthumous recipient of the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, was killed 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 was not allowed to include a Wiccan symbol on the plaque.

The blank spot may soon be filled. Lynn reported that the governor of Nevada has ordered a plaque with a pentacle. Because the cemetery is in Nevada, he said, state officials have the power to take this action and provide the plaque since the VA has refused.

“Our spirituality was everything to us. … When will freedom prevail? It hasn’t for my family, and it hasn’t for people of Wiccan faith,” Roberta Stewart said.

Even though she will get the pentacle on the wall, Stewart remains committed to making sure other Wiccan members and their families will be able to have the symbol on their government-issued markers.

Selena Fox, senior priestess of Circle Sanctuary, and others have worked for nine years to get the pentacle on the approved list. “I never thought I would have to be part of any action to sue the government in order to get the U.S. Constitution upheld,” Fox said.

Lawsuits were filed in both the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The Wiccan faith involves nature worship and belief in magical powers. The VA has said it does not recognize Wicca as an official religion because it has no centralized headquarters or firm set of beliefs.

_ Chansin Bird

Conservatives Concerned by FCC Ruling on Swearing in Newscasts

WASHINGTON (RNS) A Federal Communications Commission’s ruling to allow profanity in a CBS news broadcast sets a dangerous precedent for news programming, the Parents Television Council has warned.

On Nov. 8, the FCC reversed a previous indecency ruling against a CBS “Early Show” interview that aired a “Survivor” cast member describing another contestant as a “bulls—.”

The agency said it chose to defer to the network’s characterization of the program segment as a news interview, according to an FCC opinion filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

But the conservative Parents Television Council said that decision creates a loophole for abuse in programming and gives networks the power to make their own calls on profanity in television.

“They leave it up to the guys who are part of the problem to define news content,” said Dan Isett, the group’s director of corporate and government affairs. “Next, `Inside Edition’ and `Entertainment Tonight’ … may be seen as bona fide news events.”

The FCC noted in its opinion that there was no “outright” news exemption for indecency, but said it was important to exercise caution in judging news programming in respect to the First Amendment’s free press guarantee.

Isett said the PTC accepts that editors have leeway to exercise news judgment. But he said the “Survivor” interview did not qualify as a news event.

FCC spokesman David Fiske said the FCC will continue to review complaints on a case-by-case basis. “What is important in all cases is the context,” Fiske said. “Each set of facts will be looked at separately.”

The reversals came after CBS, Fox and NBC sued the agency last April in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, New York, over four FCC indecency findings issued in March. The networks said the FCC’s actions violated the First Amendment.

The FCC also rescinded an indecency finding against several episodes of the ABC drama “NYPD Blue” in which characters used the words “d–head” and “bulls–.” The FCC, however, reaffirmed its indecency findings in a 2002 Billboard Music Award show in which pop singer Cher said, “F– ’em,” as well as a 2003 Billboard show on ABC in which reality TV star Nicole Richie used the “f” word.

_ Rebecca U. Cho

Elton John Calls for End of Organized Religion

LONDON (RNS) Pop star Elton John has called for a total ban on all organized religion, saying faiths promote hatred toward gay people and turn heterosexuals into “hateful lemmings.”

The British singer-composer, who is gay and linked in a British “civil relationship” with long-term partner David Furnish, said “the reality is that organized religion doesn’t seem to work.”

In an interview with the Observer of London newspaper’s Music Monthly Magazine, John said, “I think religion has always tried to turn hatred toward gay people” and that it would be best to banish it completely, despite his admiration for some aspects of it.

For instance, the outspoken singer said he loves “the idea of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the beautiful stories about it, which I loved in Sunday school,” and he insisted that “there are so many people I know who are gay and love their religion.”

But, he insisted, organized religion “turns people into hateful lemmings, and it’s not really compassionate. … Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays.

“In countries such as Poland, Latvia and Russia,” he said, “there is a huge anti-gay movement, and a lot of it is started by the church.”

The 59-year-old entertainer, who has sold an estimated 200 million records around the world, said his answer to the seeming contradiction between faith’s good and bad aspects would be to “ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it.”

The world “is near escalating to World War III,” he said, “and where are the leaders of each religion? Why aren’t they having a conclave? Why aren’t they coming together?

“We are all God’s people,” John said. “We have to get along and they (religious leaders) have to lead the way. If they don’t do it, who else is going to do it? They’re not going to do it and it’s left to musicians or to someone else to deal with it.”

_ Al Webb

Top Methodist Court Rejects Challenges to Gay Membership Decision

(RNS) The United Methodist Church’s top court has rejected two separate attempts by regional conferences to evade a 2005 decision that allows pastors to bar gays and lesbians from joining the church.

The nine-member Judicial Council reviews the decisions of bishops and regional conferences to determine whether they accord with church rules and court decisions. Seven members of the council were present at the Oct. 25-28 session, according to United Methodist News Service.

The court said a petition by the Kansas East Annual Conference that said pastors could not deny church membership “solely based on the candidate … being a self-avowed homosexual” was contrary to the high court’s 2005 decision.

While regional conferences and bishops are allowed to express opinions contrary to church rules, they may not direct pastors or lay members to disobey the rules, the court said.

The court also ruled that Bishop Edward Paup of the Pacific Northwest Conference was correct to reject a petition that urged pastors to “voluntarily relinquish” their right to deny membership to homosexuals.

In a separate decision, the judicial council ruled that the denomination may limit the Methodist Church of the Ivory Coast to two delegates at its General Conference legislative meeting. Four members of the court dissented, arguing that church has “acted in a way which substantially disenfranchises what statistically is the largest annual conference in the United Methodist Church.” The council needs six votes, however, to declare an act of the General Conference unconstitutional.

In another ruling, the court rejected the ability of local congregations to choose which church ministries to financially support. It also allowed the Minnesota Conference to officially join the Minnesota Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice “even if some of the group’s stances disagree with the position of the United Methodist Church.”

_ Daniel Burke

Abramoff, `Borat’ Listed Among Most Influential Jews

(RNS) What do Jack Abramoff, Scarlett Johansson and Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Borat) have in common? They’re among The Forward 50, a list of the most influential members of the American Jewish community compiled by the Forward, a nationally circulated Jewish newspaper.

“We’re trying to give you a look at what this phenomenon called the Jewish community actually is,” said J.J. Goldberg, editor-in-chief of the Forward. “We’re trying to identify the people who are making a difference, that are worth watching.”

The list is based on suggestions from The Forward staff and readers. It includes celebrities _ comedian Jon Stewart is in the top five _ but it also includes a woman who helped raise $20 million for Hurricane Katrina relief and the Orthodox rabbi in charge of kosher food inspection. All have had national influence.

Some are well known like Johansson, Cohen and Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn. Others are Jewish institutional and religious figures. Their influence has not always been positive.

“We’re not trying to paint an attractive picture, we’re trying to tell the truth,” Goldberg said. “Jack Abramoff had an enormous impact this year. It’s a negative impact, but it’s an impact.”

Similarly, the recently defeated Virginia Sen. George Allen, whose Jewish roots were uncovered by The Forward during the campaign, earned The Forward 50 Plus One spot.

“It was a moment where the fact of Jewish identity entered America’s public discussion in a very big way,” Goldberg said.

Among the lesser-known names is Mikey Weinstein, outspoken critic of proselytizing in the military.

Within Jewish religious and political institutions, leaders who got people talking made the list. Among them: Abraham Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League; Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism; and Arnold Eisen, the new head of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the center of Conservative Judaism.

_ Ansley Roan

Quote of the Day: The Rev. Bernice King

(RNS) “My mother reminded us on so many occasions that our father just wanted to be a great pastor. Well, little did he know that he’d end up being a great pastor to the nation and to the world that needed a shepherd to guide it to green pastures away from the wilderness of injustice, despair and hate.”

_ The Rev. Bernice King, daughter of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., speaking Monday (Nov. 13) at the groundbreaking ceremonies for the Martin Luther King Jr. National Monument in Washington.

KRE/PH END RNS

Editors: A longer version of the last item (the Forward 50 list) is being transmitted separately today as RNS-TOP-JEWS.