A couple of years back, there was a case in Indiana where Wiccan parents were forbidden by a judge from exposing their son to their religion. I was attorney on the appeal of that case, with the ACLU taking it up at the second stage of appeal. We won. I found out not long ago that there people are still talking about it, both pleased that the Court of Appeals “got it right” and horrified that such a ruling would have been made in the 21st century in the first place.
For those who don’t follow the freedom of religion cases, there’s been another going on for awhile. The U.S. Military Chaplain’s handbook recognized Wicca as a valid religion some time ago, but the V.A. has been “studying” the appropriateness of the Wiccan pentacle as a symbol on the gravestones of veterans for eleven years now. Hollywood satanists aside (and they don’t use the same symbol; like the cross, they turn it upside down), the points stand for earth, air, water, fire and spirit. Not terribly offensive, or if it is, then the offensiveness is in the eye of ignorance.
Finally a couple of groups filed suit, and the Wiccans have won. Wiccan veterans’ graves can now have a pentacle carved on the gravestone. I am ashamed that it took our government this many years and several law suits to come to this point. That is the pattern in this country; the same thing has been necessary for progress in civil rights in this country for years. Brown v. Board of Education barred school segregation in 1954, saying schools should desegregate with “all deliberate speed”, but it took another ruling from them in 1971 to make it stick. Put another way, Brown was decided when my mother was still in high school. I was in high school when the Supreme Court said “Do. It. Now. We don’t care if you have to move kids around on buses to make it work.” In this case as in those, litigation should not have been necessary, but at least the V.A. settled instead of forcing it all the way up. It’s a tiny step in the right direction, but one I’m very glad to see. Especially now, when I’ve been watching our civil rights eroded steadily, and wondered how and when it would stop.