Emperor1956
Posts: 2370
Joined: 11/7/2005
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Ok this is long, and maybe a bit philosophical. Forgive Me, but I think it needs saying.
Someone said "isn't it the wishes of the deceased that matter most?" I don't think so, although I will point out that from the little bit we may glean from the various news reports, it is likely the dead soldier would have wanted a pentagram on his plaque. More important, I've always believed the wishes of the living matter most -- the survivors and mourners. That's why if the woman wants Daffy Duck on her husband's memorial plaque, I'm all for it.
And to delightb32 and darq, and those that are adopting their thread: First, you keep harping on "this is only a small memorial plaque...if the woman wants to put something on her husband's gravemarker, she can..." NO, she can't. Lets get this down once and for all: There are restrictions on what may be carved on the headstone, memorial plaque, etc. at all military cemetaries and most private, civil cemetaries. Some of those restrictions are by law, some are by rules of the Cemetary Association, with enforceability backed in law. I would venture that she cannot erect a stone with a pentagram. [By the way, shock, of shocks, when your times come to go whereever we go when we go (that means DIE, if I'm too abstruse for you), are you aware that your Master/Top/Dom if such a person exists is probably NOT able to inscribe "she was a good slave" or "from her loving Master" on your stone? But I digress....]. So this idea that she can erect her own pentagram is just wrong. But as I explain below, it doesn't matter. The government provided plaque must reflect her wishes, too.
Second, lets talk for a moment why the Pentagram is not on the approved list. It is hardly an accident -- the P. (or pentangle, as its called, also) was an ancient symbol of the goddess in pagan religion. It was bastardized by the early Christian Church, who first tried to adopt it as their own (ever see some of the early Coptic or Byzantine icons? Christian, but with pentangles ALL over...and a few upside down crosses before that symbol got co-opted, too. Christian symbols and customs are filled with "stuff" borrowed from the indigenous pagans. You must know that. Two favorites in British and American culture are the Christmas tree and the use of the Holly and Mistletoe at Christmas...or that other name for it, from the Norse/German pagan winter holiday...Yule). When the attempt to make the pentagram Christian was deemed to not work, the Church stated that the five pointed star was a sign of the Devil. (There are a ton of Web and good printed sources on this...email Me privately if you want to follow it up. Ironically the easiest one to find is The DaVinci Code. Dan Brown got a lot wrong, but his knowledge of early Christian iconography is pretty good!) So this is no accidental ban. The P-gram is for many Christians the symbol of the Devil, the Anti-Christ and all things anti-Christian. No wonder it ain't on the approved list.
But lets get to the nitty gritty. Why is it simply illegal to bar this symbol from the plaque? A brief constitution lesson. Our government is a Christian-centered government founded by deeply professing Christians, some of whom had the incredible forsight to realize that their backgrounds, while giving them unique power and (they believed) God's grace, also gave them internal biases towards their beliefs which needed to be shielded -- hence the incredible creation of the First Amendment. Yes, its a shield against bigotry, or indifference, or those who "just don't get it" in favor of the minority. I think we are incredibly lucky (dare I say blessed?) that the founding fathers had the foresight to think that maybe, some day, their would be those in political power in America who didn't always tolerate the minority (imagine that!).
That same government gives away these plaques (actually, its a quasi-government organization I think). The people charged with enforcing the appearance of our military cemetaries and memorials allow one of 38 symbols to be on the plaque, and MOST of those symbols have a religious message. Simply put: as soon as they allow ONE symbol with any religious iconography, they must allow all. If the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment is to mean anything, it means that government and quasi-government actions must be religion blind, or religion neutral. I see the role of "our government" (and it is OURS...never forget that) is to facilitate the wishes of those who died in its service, and their loved ones. I see no legal (or ethical or moral) reason NOT to allow the pentagram, and I see a number of reasons that forbidding that (or another) symbol is at best indifference, and at worse religious intolerance. We allow individuals to be intolerant, we don't allow our institutions to be so (or we struggle to undo their intolerance).
E.
_____________________________
"When you wake up, Pooh," said Piglet, "what's the first thing you say?"
"What's for breakfast? What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?"
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
"It's the same thing," he said.
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RE: Sign of the times - 
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