Military casts Wicca in the shadows
reprinted from: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/state/9380053.htm?1c
| Posted on Thu, Aug. 12, 2004 As members serve their country, they also battle the military to accept their faith By Randy Myers CONTRA COSTA TIMES After U.S. military personnel pelted American Wiccan servicemen and servicewomen in Iraq with bottles and rocks as they worshipped in a sacred circle, the Pentagon turned to Patrick McCollum of Moraga. The chaplain, a national expert on the earth-based Wicca religion, conjured a little Wicca 101 for the troops. Most Americans glean their Wicca knowledge from TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or "Charmed," with their witches and curses, good and evil. Wiccan worship focuses on respect for the earth and its inhabitants with a "do no harm" credo. "Education is the single most powerful tool," in dealing with misunderstandings in the military, McCollum said. Wiccans represent a small fraction of the military, roughly 1,500 among 1.4 million active personnel, but the Pentagon wants to accommodate their faith. The military trains chaplains to meet the religious needs of all service members without compromising their own religious beliefs, said Col. Richard Hum, executive director of the Armed Forces Chaplains Board at the Defense Department. That's where McCollum and a few other Wiccans come in as on-call Pentagon advisers. The military has sought his advice three or four times since he started after Sept. 11, 2001, he said. An advisory team became a Pentagon priority when Wiccan military personnel reported problems while conducting rites and religious activities. |  Loye Pourner, Travis Air Force Base Wiccan Lay Leader, listens to Wiccan members talk about their faith during an informational meeting while Wiccan ritual objects sit on a table in the foreground on Monday at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield. (Deborah Coleman)
|
The Wiccans said that some chaplains were trying to convert them and that commanding officers made it difficult to practice, McCollum said.
Wiccans also have been pressuring the Department of Veterans Affairs to allow a Wiccan emblem, most likely the pentacle, for armed forces burial headstones or markers. Mike Nacincik of Veterans Affairs, said the department authorizes 38 emblems, including one for atheists, but none for Wiccans.
Leaf on 08.14.04 @ 04:36 PM PST [more..] [No Comments]
