Notes on religious pluralism

Some of us, my household included, are roughly a third of the way through this season's Advent calendars. Mindful of other traditions, and of the ingenious political system that counsels Americans to respect religious traditions besides their own, I offer a few notes on recent controversies in this realm:

Slain soldier gets his Wiccan plaque

Sgt. Patrick Stewart died Sept. 25, 2005, in Afghanistan. He was posthumously awarded a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. His widow, Roberta, after a year of battling the federal government, was finally able to put a Wiccan symbol (a pentagram enclosed within a circle) on her husband's memorial plaque. Complete details in the Washington Post; hat tip to Wonkette.

An interfaith prayer room at MSP?

Something good at last may come of the November 20 incident in which six imams were removed from a USAirways flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix. The Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport is considering an interfaith prayer room. Karen Armstrong astutely observes that Christians, Jews, and Muslims all pray to the same God. I'm sure God hears prayers from all of her people, no matter what name they assign to her. Hat tip to Minnesota Monitor.

Keith Ellison 1, Dennis Prager 0

I am proud of Representative-elect Keith Ellison (D.-Minn. 5), whose district includes my home and the University of Minnesota. Keith is the first Muslim elected to Congress. He will proudly and appropriately take his oath to uphold the Constitution on a copy of the Qur'an. None of this changes the fact that Dennis Prager is a narrow-minded religious bigot. Hat tip to Essentially Contested America.