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Sgt. Patrick Stewart
Patrick Dana Stewart (October 21, 1970 – September 25, 2005) was a soldier in the United States Army. He died in combat in Afghanistan when his Chinook helicopter was shot down by a rocket-propelled grenade while returning to base. Patrick Stewart was a resident of Fernley, Nevada, United States and a practicing Wiccan. Burial controversy After his death, controversy ensued when the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) initially refused to imprint a Wiccan pentacle on his grave, to the dismay of his widow, Roberta Stewart. 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", and Wicca was not then recognized for use in its cemeteries. Roberta Stewart commented "remember that all freedoms are worth fighting for". At an alternative memorial service, assisted by Selena Fox, of the Circle Sanctuary, a Wiccan congregation, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the county seat and largest city of Washoe County and sits in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, in the Truckee River valley, on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada. The Reno metro area (along with the neighboring city Sparks) occupies a valley colloquially known as the Truckee Meadows which because of large-scale investments from Greater Seattle and San Francisco Bay Area companies such as Amazon, Tesla, Panasonic, Microsoft, Apple, and Google has become a new major technology center in the United States. The city is named after Civil War Union Major General Jesse L. Reno, who was killed in action during the American Civil War at the Battle of South Mountain, on Fox's Gap. Reno is part of the Reno–Sparks metropolitan area, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rocket Propelled Grenade
A rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) is a shoulder-fired missile weapon that launches rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. Most RPGs can be carried by an individual soldier, and are frequently used as anti-tank weapons. These warheads are affixed to a rocket motor which propels the RPG towards the target and they are stabilized in flight with fins. Some types of RPG are reloadable with new rocket-propelled grenades, while others are single-use. RPGs are generally loaded from the front. RPGs with high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warheads are very effective against lightly armored vehicles such as armored personnel carriers (APCs) and armored cars. However, modern, heavily-armored vehicles, such as upgraded APCs and main battle tanks, are generally too well-protected (with thick composite or reactive armor) to be penetrated by an RPG, unless less armored sections of the vehicle are exploited. Various warheads are also capable of causing secondary damage to vulnerable system ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Selena Fox
Selena Fox (born 20 October 1949 in Arlington, Virginia) is a Wiccan priestess, interfaith minister, environmentalist, pagan elder, author, and lecturer in the fields of pagan studies, ecopsychology, and comparative religion. Fox is a trained counselor and psychotherapist, with a B.S. ''cum laude'' in psychology from the College of William & Mary in 1971 and a M.S. in counseling from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1995, where her thesis was entitled ''When Goddess is God: Pagans, Recovery, and Alcoholics Anonymous'' (1995). She has been a member of the American Psychological Association, American Counseling Association, Association for Transpersonal Psychology, and American Academy of Religion. Fox began leading public pagan rituals in 1971 and has done public education about paganism since 1973, in talks and public media interviews. She has also been mentioned in print publications, including a profile in ''People Magazine'' in 1979. Fox has been active in environment ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
USVA Emblems For Headstones And Markers
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) maintains many cemeteries specifically devoted to veterans. Most have various rules regarding what must take place in order to be interred there. Procedure The VA only permits graphics on government-furnished headstones or markers that are approved emblems of belief, the Civil War Union Shield (including those who served in the U.S. military through the Spanish–American War), the Civil War Confederate Southern Cross of Honor, and the Medal of Honor insignia. Arlington National Cemetery has similar restrictions on headstones, though it is maintained by US Department of the Army. The religious symbols are rendered as simple inscriptions without sculptural relief or coloring other than black. The emblem of belief is an optional feature. Generally the VA adds a new symbol a few months after receiving a petition from a faith group. However, the Wiccan symbol was only added in 2007 to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of seve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ''Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the Muhammad in Islam, main and final Islamic prophet.Peters, F. E. 2009. "Allāh." In , edited by J. L. Esposito. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . (See alsoquick reference) "[T]he Muslims' understanding of Allāh is based...on the Qurʿān's public witness. Allāh is Unique, the Creator, Sovereign, and Judge of mankind. It is Allāh who directs the universe through his direct action on nature and who has guided human history through his prophets, Abraham, with whom he made his covenant, Moses/Moosa, Jesus/Eesa, and Muḥammad, through all of whom he founded his chosen communities, the 'Peoples of the Book.'" It is the Major religious groups, world's second-largest religion behind Christianity, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Star Of David
The Star of David (). is a generally recognized symbol of both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram: the compound of two equilateral triangles. A derivation of the ''seal of Solomon'', which was used for decorative and mystical purposes by Muslims and Kabbalah, Kabbalistic Jews, its adoption as a distinctive symbol for the Jews, Jewish people and their religion dates back to 17th-century Prague. In the 19th century, the symbol began to be widely used among the History of the Jews in Europe, Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, ultimately coming to be used to represent Jewish identity or religious beliefs."The Flag and the Emblem" (MFA). It became representative of Zionism after it was Flag of Israel#Origin of the flag, chosen as the central symbol for a Jewish national flag at the First Zionist Congress in 1897. By the end of World War I, it had become an internationally accepted symbol for the Jewish people, being used on the gravestones of fallen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspapers and broadcasters. The AP has earned 56 Pulitzer Prizes, including 34 for photography, since the award was established in 1917. It is also known for publishing the widely used '' AP Stylebook''. By 2016, news collected by the AP was published and republished by more than 1,300 newspapers and broadcasters, English, Spanish, and Arabic. The AP operates 248 news bureaus in 99 countries. It also operates the AP Radio Network, which provides newscasts twice hourly for broadcast and satellite radio and television stations. Many newspapers and broadcasters outside the United States are AP subscribers, paying a fee to use AP material without being contributing members of the cooperative. As part of their cooperative agreement with the AP, most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Circle Sanctuary
Circle Sanctuary is a non-profit organization and legally recognized neopagan church based in southwestern Wisconsin, US. It aims to encourage community celebrations, spiritual healing, research, networking and education. Circle Sanctuary was founded in 1974 by Selena Fox, and sponsors gatherings and encourages nature conservation, nature meditations and workshops at a range of locations, with the primary site being a site near Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, set in forested hills. Circle Sanctuary's land is fully owned by Circle Sanctuary Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit. The organization has been prominent in the campaign to permit the pentacle to be displayed on the gravestones of Wiccan members of the U.S. military, and Selena Fox was one of the plaintiffs in the successful action to obtain this permission. Nine of the gravestones are displayed at the Sanctuary's cemetery at Barneveld, Wisconsin, about west of Madison. Overview Since its creation in 1974, Circle Sanctuary has prov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pentacle
A pentacle (also spelled and pronounced as ''pantacle'' in Thelema, following Aleister Crowley, though that spelling ultimately derived from Éliphas Lévi) "The Pantacle of Frater V. I. O." is a talisman that is used in magical evocation, and is usually made of parchment, paper, cloth, or metal (although it can be of other materials), upon which a magical design is drawn. Protective symbols may also be included (sometimes on the reverse), a common one being the six-point form of the Seal of Solomon. Pentacles may be sewn to the chest of one's garment, or may be flat objects that hang from one's neck or are placed flat upon the ground or altar. Pentacles are almost always shaped as disks or flat circles. In the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, though, a pentacle is placed within the triangle of evocation. Many varieties of pentacle can be found in the grimoire called the ''Key of Solomon''. Pentacles are also used in the neopagan magical religion called Wicca, alongside other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wicca
Wicca () is a modern Pagan religion. Scholars of religion categorise it as both a new religious movement and as part of the occultist stream of Western esotericism. It was developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant. Wicca draws upon a diverse set of ancient pagan and 20th-century hermetic motifs for its theological structure and ritual practices. Wicca has no central authority figure. Its traditional core beliefs, principles, and practices were originally outlined in the 1940s and 1950s by Gardner and an early High Priestess, Doreen Valiente. The early practices were disseminated through published books and in secret written and oral teachings passed along to their initiates. There are many variations on the core structure, and the religion grows and evolves over time. It is divided into a number of diverse lineages, sects and denominations, referred to as ''tra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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