Thursday, November 09, 2006

On Religious Symbols: One for Every, One for All

Veteran's Day is a national holiday in the United States. Many countries have similar holidays. -gw

As I read the newspaper this morning, I saw a photograph of a young woman in Arlington National Cemetery kissing the headstone of her boyfriend, who was a Marine killed in Iraq In August. The beauty of the simplicity of military headstones has always underscored to me the tragedy of warfare and young lives ended all too early.In the photograph, I noticed the emblem of belief on the headstone over the grave next to this Marine's was a round symbol I did not recognize. I later found this site, and learned that the symbol I saw was for a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, otherwise known as Mormons. I was not aware that there was a separate symbol for that faith. There is even a symbol for the Baha'i and Buddhist faiths, which surprises me, given the pacifist credal statements of those two religions. Interestingly, there are over thirty-eight different religious denominations which can be represented symbolically on military headstones.

http://shrewdnessofapes.blogspot.com/2006/11/that-sacrifices-of-our-soldiers-will.html

At 9:38 AM, george wesley said...
I came across your entry while doing a blog-search for "Baha'i" and noted your brief mention. The Baha'i Faith does not teach pacifism. Whereas the Baha'i Writings indicate it is better to be killed than to kill, self-defense is also recognized as personal right we have. During the draft era I applied for I-A-O status, in keeping with the Baha'i teachings. Were I to have been drafted, I would have gone in as a non-combatant, a "conscientious cooperator." The Baha'is teachings clearly indicate the place in the future world order for an international police force with the possibility of nations rising up against a rogue nation that threatens the peace and stability of the world.

1 comment:

Annie said...

Hi George! When my best friend Hannah and I went to the Tahoma National Cemetery for her to pick out a plot for Gabe we noticed all of the different symbols on the headstones. Hannah lovingly picked the Christian cross for Gabe's tombstone. I also saw Baha'i symbols on some of the tombstones as well.