Briefly noted
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has approved the pentacle, a religious symbol used by Wiccans, as an official symbol for veterans’ gravestones, according to a settlement announced April 23. “The Wiccan pentacle will henceforth have the same status as the other emblems of belief on the VA’s list of emblems available for inscription on government-furnished headstones and markers,” reads the settlement released by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The pentacle will join 38 other religious or philosophical symbols permitted by the VA.