Veterans Win Right to Post Religious Symbol on Headstones

The ACLU has long argued that veterans and their families should be free to choose religious symbols on military headstones – whether Crosses, Stars of David, Pentacles, or other symbols – and that the government should not be permitted to restrict such religious expression in federal cemeteries.

“We are gratified that the government will finally allow military families to express their religious beliefs and honor their loved ones,” said Daniel Mach, Director of Litigation with the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, who represents families and churches in this case. “Veterans who have served their country honorably should not have to worry that their faith will be ignored after death.”

The settlement reached in the Americans United case included and resolved all claims made in the ACLU’s parallel litigation.

The national ACLU and the ACLU of Washington filed their lawsuit on behalf of two churches and three individuals, including the mother of a soldier who was killed in action in Iraq in 2004. The National Cemetery Administration had previously approved 38 emblems of belief for veterans, encompassing a wide variety of religions, as well as symbols for atheists and secular humanists. Yet the agency had refused since the mid-1990s to act on requests by Wiccan families and clergy to approve use of the Pentacle.

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http://aclu.org/religion/frb/29459prs20070423.html