Judge Orders God To Break Up Into Smaller Deities

WASHINGTON, DC—Calling the theological giant's stranglehold on the religion industry "blatantly anti-competitive," a U.S. district judge ruled Monday that God is in violation of anti-monopoly laws and ordered Him to be broken up into several less powerful deities.

"The evidence introduced in this trial has convinced me that the deity known as God has willfully and actively thwarted competition from other deities and demigods, promoting His worship with such unfair scare tactics as threatening non-believers with eternal damnation," wrote District Judge Charles Elliot Schofield in his decision. "In the process, He has carved out for Himself an illegal monotheopoly."

The suit, brought against God by the Justice Department on behalf of a coalition of "lesser deities" and polytheistic mortals, alleged that He violated antitrust laws by claiming in the Holy Bible that He was the sole creator of the universe, and by strictly prohibiting the worship of what He termed "false idols."

"God clearly commands that there shall be no other gods before Him, and He frequently employs the phrase 'I AM the Lord' to intimidate potential deserters,"

Prosecuting attorney Geoffrey Albert said. "God uses other questionable strong-arm tactics to secure and maintain humanity's devotion, demanding, among other things, that people sanctify their firstborn to Him and obtain circumcisions as a show of faith. There have also been documented examples of Him smiting those caught worshipping graven images."

Attorneys for God did not deny such charges. They did, however, note that God offers followers "unbeatable incentives" in return for their loyalty, including eternal salvation, protection from harm, and "fruitfulness."

"God was the first to approach the Jewish people with a 'covenant' contract that guaranteed they would be the most favored in His eyes, and He handed down standards of morality, cleanliness, and personal conduct that exceeded anything else practiced at the time," lead defense attorney Patrick Childers said. "He readily admits to being a 'jealous' God, not because He is threatened by the prospect of competition from other gods, but because He is utterly convinced of the righteousness of His cause and that He is the best choice for mortals. Many of these so-called gods could care less if somebody bears false witness or covets thy neighbor's wife. Our client, on the other hand, is truly a 'People's God.'"

In the end, however, God was unable to convince Schofield that He did not deliberately create a marketplace hostile to rival deities. God's attorneys attempted to convince the judge of His openness to rivals, pointing to His longtime participation in the "Holy Trinity," but the effort failed when Schofield determined that Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are "more God subsidiaries than competitors."

To comply with federal antitrust statutes, God will be required to divide Himself into a pantheon of specialized gods, each representing a force of nature or a specific human custom, occupation, or state of mind.

"There will most likely be a sun god, a moon god, sea god, and rain god," said religion-industry watcher Catherine Bailey. "Then there will be some second-tier deities, like a god of wine, a goddess of the harvest, and perhaps a few who symbolize human love and/or blacksmithing."

Leading theologians are applauding the God breakup, saying that it will usher in a new era of greater worshipping options, increased efficiency, and more personalized service.

"God's prayer-response system has been plagued by massive, chronic backlogs, and many prayers have gone unanswered in the process," said Gene Suozzi, a Phoenix-area Wiccan. "With polytheism, you pray to the deity specifically devoted to your concern. If you wish to have children, you pray to the fertility goddess. If you want to do well on an exam, you pray to the god of wisdom, and so on. This decentralization will result in more individualized service and swifter response times."

Other religious experts are not so confident that the breakup is for the best, pointing to the chaotic nature of polytheistic worship and noting that multiple gods demand an elaborate regimen of devotion that today's average worshipper may find arduous and inconvenient.

"If people want a world in which they must lay burnt offerings before an earthenware household god to ensure that their car will start on a cold winter morning, I suppose they can have it," said Father Thomas Reinholdt, theology professor at Chicago's Loyola University. "What's more, lesser deities are infamous for their mercurial nature. They often meddle directly in diplomatic affairs, abduct comely young mortal women for their concubines, and are not above demanding an infant or two for sacrifice. Monotheism, for all its faults, at least means convenience, stability, and a consistent moral code."

One deity who is welcoming the verdict is the ancient Greek god Zeus, who described himself as "jubilant" and "absolutely vindicated."

"For thousands of years, I've been screaming that this third-rate sky deity ripped me off wholesale," said Zeus, speaking from his Mt. Olympus residence. "Every good idea He ever had He took from me: Who first created men in his own image? Who punished mankind for its sins? Who lived eternally up in the clouds? And the whole fearsome, patriarchal, white-beard, thunderbolt thing? I was doing that eons before this two-bit hustler started horning in on the action."

Lawyers for God say they plan to appeal Schofield's ruling and are prepared to go all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.

"This decision is a crushing blow to God worshippers everywhere, and we refuse to submit to a breakup until every possible avenue of argument is pursued," Childers said. "I have every confidence that God will ultimately win, as He and His lawyers are all-powerful."

The Framers and the Faithful

How modern evangelicals are ignoring their own history.


Thomas Jefferson stood, dressed in a black suit, in a doorway of the White House on Jan. 1, 1802, watching a bizarre spectacle. Two horses were pulling a dray carrying a 1,235-pound cheese—just for him. Measuring 4 feet in diameter and 17 inches in height, this cheese was the work of 900 cows.

More impressive than the size of the cheese was its eloquence. Painted on the red crust was the inscription: “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” The cheese was a gift from religious leaders in western Massachusetts.

It may seem surprising that religious leaders would be praising Jefferson, given that his critics had just months earlier been attacking him as an infidel and an atheist. In the 1800 election, John Adams had argued that the Francophile Jefferson would destroy America's Christian heritage just as the French revolutionaries had undermined their own religious legacy. Adams supporters quoted Jefferson's line that he didn't care whether someone believed in one god or 20, and they argued that the choice in the election was: “God—And a religious president...[or] Jefferson—and no God.”

But in a modern context, the most remarkable thing about the cheese is that it came from evangelical Christians. It was the brainchild of the Rev. John Leland—a Baptist and, therefore, a theological forefather of the Rev. Jerry Falwell and Franklin Graham. Even though Jefferson was labeled anti-religion by some, he had become a hero to evangelicals—not in spite of his views on separation of church and state, but because of them. By this point, Jefferson had written his draft of the Virginia statute of religious freedom, and he and James Madison were known as the strictest proponents of keeping government and religion far apart. Because Baptists and other evangelicals had been persecuted and harassed by the majority faiths—the Anglicans in the South and the Puritan-influenced Congregationalists in the North—these religious minorities had concluded that their freedom would only be guaranteed when majority faiths could not use the power of the state to promote their theology and institutions.

Each side of our modern culture wars has attempted to appropriate the Founding Fathers for their own purposes. With everything from prayer in school to gay rights to courtroom displays of the Ten Commandments at stake, conservative and liberal activists are trying to capture the middle ground and win over public opinion. Portraying their views as compatible with—even demanded by—the Founding Fathers makes any view seem more sensible, mainstream, and in the American tradition. And in truth, you can find a Jefferson or Adams quote to buttress just about any argument. But there are a few facts that might actually be stipulated by both sides in the culture wars. First, the original Constitution really didn't say all that much about religion. God is not mentioned, and the only reference to religion is a ban on providing religious tests for holding office. (Ask why, and the arguments would resume with fury: Conservatives say the Founders left it out because they wanted the states to regulate religion; liberals say it was because the framers were secularists who wanted strict separation between religion and government).

Read the rest of the story HERE

US Navy Shipbuilders report new contracts

US Navy Shipbuilding Contractors hurt by the recent downsizing in our Navy's ship construction have reportedly taken on contracts from outside agencies. These Naval Construction Contracts (NCC) should help the economy in the Newport News area, especially welcome at this time of year.

US Navy personnel declined to comment.

Soulforce Demonstration at Liberty Univ - A Non-issue?

I was all ready to rant and rave about Jerry Falwell and Liberty University being bigoted and so forth. About how they were wrong to arrest people and make a scene, but you know what? I really can't say alot about it.

Now first I want to say that I totally and completely support gay rights, gay marriage, gay food...whatever. And no, I am not gay myself, but I have enough gay friends that I can understand their predicament, as much as a 40-ish single father of four can I suppose.

Now, about this Liberty thing. Soulforce wanted to go on Liberty's campus and dialogue with the other Christians, since Soulforce is a Christian group. OK...that's fine, but Liberty Chancellor Jerry Falwell said "No, we don't want you here" and then told them that they would be arrested if they came on their property. Pretty cut and dry that was. So, when Soulforce volunteers piled out of their bus, approached the gate and got arrested, they were surprised?

D'oh! I am sorry, but as much as I would like to be indignant and rant and rave, I (and it pains me greatly to say this) actually have to side with Jerry and his Liberty-ites. I mean, if a bunch of Liberty kids called me and said, "Hey Jeff, we want to pop over and discuss how you are going to burn in Hell, since you are Wiccan and all" I would say "no thanks". If they said "well, we're coming anyway", they could very well expect to see LPD's finest waiting for them.

So what we have here is not some evil Christian plot to rid the world of gays (though I am sure one exists); no, what we have here is a property owner exercising his right to have trespassers removed.

Like I said....a non-issue really.



Peace and Light

Jeff

St. Patrick is lost in holiday hoopla

St. Patrick's Day in the United States means clover-colored clothing, paper shamrocks, bagpipes, Irish folk music and dancing, corned beef and cabbage, green beer.

Often, the man of honor gets lost. At its core, the holiday is a holy recognition of St. Patrick's commitment to spreading Christianity throughout Ireland. It falls on March 17, the day he is believed to have died more than 1,500 years ago.

Over the centuries, Ireland's patron saint has become a mythical figure, widely pictured with a long beard, standing tall on the lush Irish coast in ceremonial robes, wearing a bishop's miter, holding a shepherd's staff. Snakes scatter from his feet.

It's an image that feeds into widely held misconceptions. To set the record straight:

-- St. Patrick wasn't Irish. There is disagreement about his precise birthplace, but it was somewhere in Roman Britain.

-- He didn't introduce Christianity to Ireland. St. Palladius was the first bishop to travel to Ireland to convert the pagans, who believed in many gods.

-- He didn't drive the snakes from Ireland. Geological studies have determined there were no snakes. The story symbolizes St. Patrick casting off paganism.

-- He likely never used the three-leafed clover to teach about the Holy Trinity, the belief that God exists as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. That notion surfaced centuries after St. Patrick's death.

"There is a huge contrast between the historical St. Patrick and the legendary St. Patrick," said Dermot Quinn, author of "The Irish in New Jersey: Four Centuries of American Life" and history professor at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J.

"All sorts of things get folded into the memory of the saints."

The real deal

Historians reason that St. Patrick was the son of an aristocratic landowner, captured by marauders when he was about 16, taken to Ireland and made a slave. During six years sheepherding in relative solitude, he found God.

Patrick escaped and returned to Britain, but he longed to one day minister to the Irish. He studied for the priesthood and eventually was ordained a bishop. Sources vary on the timeline, but in the early 430s, Pope Celestine sent Patrick back to Ireland.

Patrick spent decades baptizing, founding churches and otherwise spreading Christianity. He may have died in his 70s, though some sources say he lived past 100.

Read the rest here

A Pagan / Christian Dialogue

I am on several interfaith discussion lists and frequently engage in spirited (forgive the pun) dialogue between Pagans and Christians, each of various "flavors". The following is the result of one such discussion:


1 - Do the gods and goddesses of Wicca actually exist?

---They exist as surely as the Christian God exists.

2 - If they actually exist, how do you know they exist?

---The existence of the Godhead is dependent solely on faith, which does not require proof; the same as proof of a Christian god.

3 - If you're tradition contradicts the tradition of another Wiccan, can they both be objectively true?

---Certainly. Belief is subjective. And, if "God" is omnipotent, isn't everything "objectively true"?

4 -How do you feel about believing in the religious system where you cater your religion to your desires?

---All religious systems work in this fashion. The difference with Wicca is that we are expected be totally responsible for the effects of our desires. Many other religions, including Christianity, expect their followers to follow a set of well defined rules, with all desires attributed to a "good" or a "bad" spirit.

5 - If you cater/construct your religion according to our desires,
then isn't it nothing more than your own invention?

---All religions are invented by people to cater to their desires. Wicca simply does not expect people to become slaves to dogma. It's all a personal invention.

6 - Is Wicca able to be shown to be false or is it all non-verifiable ideas?

---Since Wicca, or the "Craft", is based on solid principles, such as homeopathy, biology, botony,geology, physics, and psychology, the ideas in use are easily verifiable.

7 - If your spells and incantations produce results, how do you know that the power behind the results is good or not?

---Power is neither good nor bad, any more than a hammer is good or bad; it is only a tool. It is the intention of the user that determines the outcome.

8 - How do you know that there is not something more sinister behind Wicca?

---See the answer for #7. It is only the intention of the person, who is responsible or not.
In the First Century, there was a religious sect that was suppressed because of their "sinister" acts. They were said to kidnap infants to sacrifice to their god. They met at night, in secret places, to worship together. They drank blood and ate flesh. They encouraged women to lead their rituals and teach their beliefs.They worshipped an apostate who broke all the rules of his religion and preached against the government. His name was Jesus.

9 - Why do you think that rituals dealing withcandles, knives, and
such are able to affect nature?

---These are, again, only tools; stagecraft to create a psychological gateway to let the subconcious mind focus on the subject to be affected. Those who have practiced the Craft for very long can easily work without them. In a large group, a ritual, with all the frosting on the cake, works to draw a diverse group of people together and concentrate on working in concert.



So, some interesting answers to frequent questions. If you wish more infomation on Wicca and other Pagan religions, go to The Witches Voice , the best and probably largest Wiccan/Pagan site on the Net.

Court Orders Fisherman to Apologize to Eagle

A peaceful Sunday of fishing turned sour for Josh Williams recently. The problems started when Mr. Williams hooked a nice smallmouth bass, and a bald eagle took notice. While the eagle swooped in, attempting to catch the bass in its talons, Mr. Williams was observed by a Fish and Wildlife Service officer trying to scare the eagle away by throwing stones at it.

The FWS officer testified in U.S. District Court of South Dakota that Mr. Williams had clearly violated one of the Endangered Species Act's prohibited activities that specifically makes it illegal to "...harass....an endangered or threatened species without a permit from the Secretary of the Department of the Interior."

The judge agreed, finding the man guilty of a misdemeanor violation of the Act. The judge was lenient in sentencing, however, requiring only that the man apologize to the eagle. Mr. Williams expressed remorse, stating that the eagle would be welcome to help him fish anytime it wanted to. The eagle had no comment.

Not the Usual Suspects in Church Burnings

From and article in TIME:

In recent years, church burnings in Alabama have become a disturbing, all too common event, viewed primarily as hate crimes of one kind or another. In 1996 it was a volunteer fireman, Chris Deer, who was arrested for and ultimately pleaded guilty to setting rural Alabama churches on fire. Three years later, self-professed Satanist Jay Ballinger was arrested for setting churches on fire in Alabama and other states. He’s serving a federal life sentence. So it came as quite a shock to law enforcement and residents alike Wednesday when three Birmingham, Alabama-area college students, all from upscale families and students at a private, religious-based college, were arrested for allegedly setting nine rural Baptist churches on fire in February."It's hard to believe it was these kinds of kids," says Greene County Sheriff Johnny Isaac. "It makes me mad. My people say the Lord will take care of them, but I say I hope the Lord lets me have them first. If they get life in prison it isn't long enough."

According to court documents filed Wednesday in Alabama, Russell Lee DeBusk Jr., 19, Benjamin Nathan Moseley, 19, and Mathew Lee Cloyd, 20, say they set five small, isolated churches about 50 miles southwest of their Birmingham homes ablaze Feb. 3 as a joke after a night of deer hunting and drinking. Then they set four similar churches on fire Feb. 7 some 100 miles west of Birmingham to try to throw investigators off any clues. Instead, identical tire tracks from Cloyd’s Toyota 4Runner ultimately led investigators to the threesome. Moseley, Cloyd and DeBusk are all being held on federal conspiracy to burn churches charges, and remain in custody pending a detention hearing Friday in federal court. The charge carries a sentence upon conviction of five to 20 years. Family members reached by TIME Wednesday declined to comment.

Read the trest of this story here

1692 Salem Was Ripe For Witch Trials

From a story in The Saginaw News

It's a good thing the sky was sunny Tuesday morning and that the temperature was encouraging with its hint of spring. Inside Horizons Conference Center, however, things were mighty grim.

Horizons Town Talk speaker Rose Earhart -- yes, she's related to aviator Amelia Earhart -- was painting an all-too-vivid picture of Salem, Mass., and its road to the famed witch trials of 1692.

"Living conditions were abominable in Salem," said Earhart, who has penned an acclaimed historical novel on the subject and who lives in an allegedly haunted house in Salem. "It was cold eight to nine months of the year. Damp with rain or snow a lot of the time. Foggy or misty. Dark. And the homes were hutlike -- one or two rooms at most, with no windows because windows were only for rich people. "It was smoky and smelly inside, with one entire wall devoted for heating and cooking. And 14 people often lived in one hut."

Amid groans from the audience, Earhart raised the angst a notch when she started to address the claustrophobic religious atmosphere of the Puritans.

"The biggest fear of a Puritan was that someone, somewhere, might be happy. If you were happy, you'd go to hell. And they believed that before you were born, either God or the Devil had claimed your soul." Oppression, she said, was condoned and encouraged against women, children, the poor, the old, the infirm. Her description of a spiked head cage used routinely to torture wives brought more murmurs from the audience.

Puritans were sure the woods were filled with ghosts, goblins, witches and American Indians, she continued, and they were so afraid of their own livestock, "they hung chickens for witchcraft.

So, just how bad was it?

"Stories tell that three-quarters of the Puritans captured by Indians decided to stay with the Indians when given a chance for their freedom." That comment generated one of the few moments of laughter in her speech about "The Salem Witch Trials."

Conditions were ripe, she said, "for a disaster."

When a half-black, half-Indian, Caribbean-born slave named Tituba amused a group of girls she was caring for with tales of voodoo magic, some of them began having nightmares -- and the mass hysteria began, says Earhart.

Swept into it as prosecutors were doctors and ministers and judges, among them the founder of Harvard and names that would become literary giants in years to come (Hawthorn and Putnam). Two of them, Earhart says, were pedophiles who kept records on what they did with girls in the name of research.

Before it was over, 19 people were hanged, and an 80-year-old man was pressed to death under the weight of stones piled onto the wooden door laid on his chest. He willingly had traded places with his accused granddaughter so she could live.

Earhart showed video clips of some of the places where these events took place, places unchanged by time. She showed video of the graveyard where accusers and a few of the condemned now share a common ground -- although most of the executed never were buried, their bodies instead left on a hill for scavengers to ravage. She told of a few heroes and heroines in the battle.

"So what it is we can learn here?" Earhart asked. "That history repeats itself."

Salem was followed by America putting Japanese-Americans in internment camps during World World II because of hysteria over Pearl Harbor. And that was followed by the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s which destroyed careers because of the fear of Communists.

"And I do not want to get political here, I really don't," Earhart concluded, "but I wonder how history will view some of our choices being made now against terrorism.

"Only time will tell."

Today's Birthday - March 6

Leroy Gordon "Gordo Cooper

March 6 1927

Gemini and Apollo Astronaut




















Me - Jeff Kincaid

March 6 1963, A date which shall live in infamy

Tax break on religious texts struck down

A federal judge in Atlanta has struck down a state law that grants sales tax exemptions for purchases of the Bible and other works pertaining to the Holy Scriptures.

In a ruling issued Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Story found the sales tax exemption unconstitutional in that it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

The case was brought by a retired Atlanta librarian and the owner of a Sandy Springs metaphysical bookshop who contended the law unlawfully discriminates against sellers of other philosophical, religious and spiritual works.

"It is a fundamental principle of Free Speech jurisprudence that 'regulations which permit the government to discriminate on the basis of the content of the message cannot be tolerated,'" Story wrote, citing a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

"The unique and preferential treatment the state provides to 'religious' literature raises serious constitutional concerns under the Establishment Clause," Story wrote. That clause provides that government "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

Gerry Weber, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, applauded the ruling. He said that, unless the law is changed, booksellers must now charge sales tax on all purchases of the Bible and other works relating to the Holy Scriptures.

"It's a slam-dunk order," Weber said. "The government can't pick and choose which faith it's going to prefer."

By issuing the ruling while the General Assembly is in session, Weber said, the judge "has given the Legislature an opportunity to expand the statute to exempt all philosophical and religious texts — or none at all."

Read the rst if this story here

US launches drive to plug leaks: Washington Post

Reuters is reporting The Bush administration has launched several investigations to discourage government employees from leaking classified information to news reporters, The Washington Post reported in its Sunday edition.

FBI agents have interviewed dozens of employees at the CIA, the National Security Agency and other intelligence agencies in recent weeks as they investigate possible leaks that led to reports about the NSA's domestic spying program and secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe, the Post said.

Employees at the FBI, the CIA, the Justice Department and other agencies have also received Justice Department letters prohibiting them from discussing the NSA program, the Post said, citing anonymous sources.

Republican lawmakers like Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts are considering legislation that would stiffen penalties for leaking.

FBI agents have contacted reporters at the Sacramento Bee about their coverage of a terrorism case that was based on classified documents, the Post said.

CIA Director Porter Goss has warned employees at the agency against speaking to reporters, and called for prosecutors to call reporters before a grand jury to force them to reveal who is leaking information, the Post said.

Several reporters have already been forced to reveal anonymous sources to a U.S. prosecutor investigating the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity after her husband accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence to justify its invasion of Iraq.

Editors and lawyers told the Post the incidents amount to the most extensive anti-leak campaign since the Nixon administration.

A White House spokesman told the Post that the government needs to protect classified information as it fights terrorism.

UPDATE: Wiccan request gains support

The battalion commander in charge of the Nevada National Guard unit that lost Sgt. Patrick Stewart in Afghanistan in September said Thursday that he believes the Department of Veterans Affairs will act favorably on a request to allow a Wiccan religious symbol to be used for Stewart's memorial at the Fernley veterans cemetery.

Battalion commander Lt. Col. Robert Harington also said he supports the efforts of Roberta Stewart, the widow of Patrick Stewart, to win approval to use the Wiccan symbol of a pentacle on her husband's memorial plaque.

"The system reacts slowly to change," Harington said. "I think Roberta has the right attitude. They will take care of it. They just need to grind it through the system."

Harington said he does not object to the use of the symbol -- a five-pointed star with one point facing up enclosed in a circle -- in a veterans cemetery.

"I don't think any American soldier would object," he said. "We have a mixing ground of American society in the armed forces. We have soldiers from every walk of life and every faith. We are all accepted in our community."

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., a veteran of Operation Desert Storm, said he would like to see the application acted on quickly.

"Obviously, it was disheartening to read about a brave soldier's widow unable to honor her husband at the memorial site in Fernley," Gibbons said in a statement. "It is my hope that the VA will act expeditiously to resolve this matter."

Roberta Stewart made her concerns known publicly because it had been five months since her husband died and the spot for his memorial plaque remained blank.

Stewart said Wednesday she wants the marker placed in the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery so the family can put her husband to rest and move on.

"The reaction has been pretty large and favorable, mostly from the military community," she said Thursday. "I'm just trying to keep a positive attitude and hope the government will see the error of this and push it through to make it a recognized emblem for all Wiccans and pagans."


More Info on what Wicca really is HERE

What goes around.....

From "This is True"

U.S. Army 1st Lt. William "Eddie" Rebrook IV, 25, was one of the lucky soldiers in Iraq: he had personal body armor. It saved his life when a roadside bomb blew up, but the bomb still ripped up his arm and severed an artery. Helicopter evacuation saved his life, but "I last saw the [body armor] when it was pulled off my bleeding body" before being flown out, he said. Because it was so bloody, it was apparently burned as a biohazard. But in the rush to save his life no one filled out the form to document that, and when he was medically discharged from the Army against his will, he was told he had to return the armor -- or pay $700 for it. Paperwork to declare it lost or destroyed could take "weeks or months" to process, he was told, and that would delay his discharge, so he borrowed money from buddies and went home to West Virginia. "I had to pay for it if I wanted to get on with my life," he said. Rebrook, who graduated with honors from West Point, hopes to go back to school and become a doctor.

Rebrook was not on the hook for long however as newspaper coverage brought significant attention to the case, not to mention embarrassment for the Army. The Army retreated, refunding the money Rebrook paid. Meanwhile, concerned citizens donated $6,000 to the injured soldier. But because his own needs were already met, Rebrook turned the money over to a Louisiana woman who lost her home to Hurricane Katrina.

Why her?

Because her son helped saved his life when he was injured in Iraq.

Good example of Karma at it finest.

Fallen Guardsman's Wiccan faith unrecognized

Nevada National Guard Sgt. Patrick Stewart gave his life for his country when the Chinook helicopter he was in was shot down in Afghanistan in September.

But those wishing to honor Stewart, who should have his name on the memorial wall at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley, 34 miles east of Reno, would have a difficult time doing so.

The space reserved for Stewart, right next to Chief Warrant Officer John Flynn, his comrade from Sparks who also died in the attack as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, is vacant.

Stewart was a follower of the Wiccan religion, which is not recognized by the Department of Veterans Affairs for use in its cemeteries.

Stewart's widow, Roberta, said she will wait until her family's religion -- and its five-pointed star enclosed in a circle, with one point facing skyward -- is recognized for use on memorials before Stewart's plaque is installed.

"It's completely blank," Roberta Stewart said, pointing to her husband's place on the memorial.

She said she had no idea the pentacle could not be used on her husband's memorial plaque until she had to deal with the agency after the death of her husband.

"It's discrimination," she said. "They are discriminating against our religion.

"I had no idea that they would decline our veterans this right that they go to fight for," she said. "What religion we are doesn't matter. It's like denying who my husband is."

Patrick Stewart's dog tags, which Roberta Stewart wears around her neck, carry the word Wiccan on them to identify his religious beliefs. But she said he was never told the Wiccan religion was not officially recognized during his 13 years of military service in different capacities.

"By they way, if you die for your country, your religion won't be recognized, that would be nice to know," Roberta Stewart said.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and its National Cemetery Administration prohibit graphics on government-furnished headstones or markers other than those they have approved as "emblems of belief." More than 30 such emblems are allowed on gravestones and makers in veterans cemeteries, from the Christian cross to the Buddhist wheel of righteousness. A symbol exists for atheists too.

Roberta Stewart said she has decided to make the issue a public one because many Wiccans serve in the armed forces who might want the symbol included on a headstone or memorial marker.

Some Wiccans are private about their religion because of the concern their practices and beliefs might be misunderstood, she said. But Roberta Stewart said she and her husband were strong enough to let their beliefs be known in the community.

Patrick Stewart's religious preferences were made clear at his memorial service, which was held at Rancho San Rafael Park in an oak grove. Some of those speaking at the service talked of Stewart's beliefs and how, while they held different views, respected him for his values. Stewart was cremated, and his ashes have been scattered.

To read the rest of this story go here

To see the surprising list of emblems that ARE approved(like Islam for instance) , go here