It is part of the Hindu religion.
Posted on 09/05/2002 1:11:32 PM PDT by Dog Gone
DALLAS - A Wiccan necklace banned by some North Texas school administrators was hidden under a student's blouse Wednesday, allowing her to return to classes.
But the parents of 15-year-old Waxahachie High School freshman Rebecca Moreno, suspended for wearing the pentacle jewelry, were scheduled to meet with educators today to appeal the suspension.
Moreno was suspended by school officials when the school year began two weeks ago. School officials let her come back Wednesday only after she agreed to hide the pentacle, a five-pointed star inside a circle.
The school dress code prohibits display of the pentacle, swastika and drug-oriented jewelry. School officials said they banned the pentacle several years ago because its design became associated with devil worship.
But the Moreno family believes their daughter should be able to wear the pentacle in full view because its part of her religion, so they are appealing the ruling.
Laura Moreno, Rebecca's mother, said the family's initial decision to hide the pentacle was to protect their daughter.
"Education is very important to our family," Laura Moreno told The Dallas Morning News in its Thursday editions. "We are making this concession to limit the amount of harm to her."
The Morenos say they are Wiccans, practitioners of a pagan religion that incorporates witchcraft, multiple gods and goddesses and nature worship.
Wiccans say that any rule against wearing the pentacle, likened by Wiccans to the Christian cross or the Star of David, is a violation of religious freedom.
High school Principal Phil Trice said the suspension had nothing to do with religion, but was based on the quarter-sized pentacle's potential for disruption at the Waxahachie campus, 35 miles southwest of Dallas.
The Morenos will attend Thursday's hearing with their attorney, Michael Linz, who was brought into the case by the American Civil Liberties Union. Linz said he will ask the school to expunge the suspensions, allow Moreno to wear the pentacle in full view and change the district's dress code to accommodate a student's religion.
Laura Moreno said her daughter attended Midlothian Independent School District last year, and school officials there never complained when she wore the pentacle.
Then they get to wear it. A Glock 19 is part of my religion but I am considering worshiping a .40 instead. Bigger holes.
I have seen "Holiday Cards" from the early 20th century that had the Swastika on them. But I know little on the subject.
If it rotates the opposite way it's a Christian symbol, a variation of a cross.
It is part of the Hindu religion.
What if a swastika is part of someone's religion?
Didn't the swastika originate in India?
Also, isn't that symbol on certain Native American petroglyphs.
In this polically correct world, sounds like they have it in for East Indians and American Indians, too.
They can't decide away the First Amendment.
As for inverted versions, with the point facing up, or north... it means an emphasis on the spiritual. Inverted, or facing south, it an emphasis on the physical. The inverted pentagram is used by Satanists to align themselves with secular humanism. Some pagan groups use north/south alignments as a sort of ranking system between innitiate, novice, seeker, and priest.
The original symbol has its roots traced back to the earky days of jewish quabbala (or how ever they are spelling it this week).
As for excising religious symbols from all public life. This is patently ridiculous. First amendment and all that. The argument could be made that a private school can set its dress code to outlaw such things under freedom of association. Public schools would have a much harder case to prove the same point.
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