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We, the Undersigned, endorse the following petition:

Save Our Wiccan Chaplain

Target: US Congress
Sponsor: Dr. David Oringderff, Sacred Well Congregation
  • Signatures: 2,783
  • Goal: 10,000
  • Deadline: 8-13-2007
The Sacred Well Congregation is currently pending as an endorsing body for military chaplains. We need only to be able to present a viable candidate for appointment without waiver.

On July 6, 2006, we received a formal request from US Army Chaplain (CPT) Donald M. Larsen stating that he wished to be considered as our candidate for the AFCB certification process and immediately thereafter to change his endorser to the Sacred Well Congregation.

Before this request was made, CH Larsen was a dedicated and distinguished battalion chaplain serving in Iraq. This request led to unethical, unprofessional and discriminatory conduct on the part of at least two US Army senior officers, resulting in the immediate withdrawal of endorsement of CH Larsen.

There is a clear and present need for a chaplain of the Wiccan faith in the US Armed Services. The Sacred Well Congregation has met every requirement put before us in our quest to become an endorsing body for military chaplains and CH Larsen followed procedure in his attempt to change his endorsing body to the Sacred Well Congregation. This latest roadblock is the result of unethical behavior on the part of biased parties.

This petition is in support of the Sacred Well Congregation’s attempt to become an endorsing body for US military chaplains and CH Larsen’s ability to serve in that capacity.


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Number Date Prefix Name Age Gender City Affiliation, if any, with the military (reserve, active duty, dependent, none,etc.)
2,786 7:44 pm PDT, Jun 27 Mr. Daniel Reich 31 Male noeman I am a E-4 in the national guard. I am very disapointed in the Army for denying his Chaplancy. I severd as a dfgl at my unit and I know for a fact that WE NEED A CHAPLIN.
2,785 2:06 pm PST, Feb 1 Ms. Christine Johnson 46 Female Pensacola Ex Navy, Mother too Son in the Navy, Mother too Son in the Army.
2,784 5:27 pm PST, Jan 31 Ms. Sara Goessel 24 Female Machesney Park My boyfriend is Army reserve and I wouldn't want him or anyone else treated like that.
2,783 7:25 am PST, Jan 9 Mr. Anonymous 15 Male Philadelphia None
2,782 2:45 pm PST, Jan 2 Ms. Katrina Trainor 23 Female Carlock none
2,781 11:10 am PST, Nov 17 Ms. megan richter 16 Female florissant n/a
2,780 4:41 pm PDT, Oct 19 Mrs. Susan Moreno 22 Female Ft. Meade United States Air Force, active duty
2,779 7:37 pm PDT, Oct 17 Mr. Weston Berry 23 Male Killeen Currently serving in HHC 2-5 CAV, 1 BCT, 1 CD on active duty.
2,778 6:06 pm PDT, Oct 14   A.D. Alber 51 Female fredericksburg U.S. Department of State, retired freedom of religion for all esp. our veterans
2,777 8:02 pm PDT, Oct 13   CJ Cole 38 Female Williston Daughter of Viet Nam Vet:
2,776 12:25 pm PDT, Sep 28   Joshua Smith 21 Male Hohenwald Army National Guard
2,775 1:46 pm PDT, Sep 24   Peter James Young 16 Male Salida None
2,774 6:06 pm PDT, Sep 23   LaShell Miller 29 Female Fort Riley Army Wife and mother of 4
2,773 11:11 am PDT, Sep 22 Mrs. Jennifer Parker 30 Female Vacaville Daughter of Retired Military
2,772 1:12 am PDT, Sep 15 Mrs. Coreena Fry 22 Female Goodland Army Wife
2,771 8:56 pm PDT, Sep 14   Jay Fry 37 Male Goodland US Army, Medically Discharged
2,770 4:02 pm PDT, Sep 10 Mr. Benjamin Lacart 21 Male FPO Active Duty, Marine Corps
2,769 4:33 pm PDT, Aug 28   Elizabeth Bradley 0 Female Crossville none
2,768 11:36 am PDT, Aug 18 Mr. Bruce Strong Jr. 0 Male Glendale I am a disabled Veteran once served with the United States Army
2,767 12:53 pm PDT, Aug 12 Mr. Brandon Graff 25 Male San Antonio Also attempting to enter as a Wiccan Chaplain, though with no such backing.
2,766 7:52 am PDT, Jul 15   Steve Duba 0 Male Eagle River Active duty USAF, and a member of the Sacred Well Congregation
2,765 4:25 am PDT, Jun 30   Rich Gore 46 Male Greeneville None
2,764 11:46 pm PDT, Jun 9 Mr. Clifton H Sasser III 23 Male APO Active Duty
2,763 6:24 pm PDT, Jun 5 Mr. James R. Van Kollenburg 57 Male Lombard none
2,762 2:53 pm PDT, Jun 5 Ms. Krystina Stark 0 Female Beebe none
2,761 1:10 pm PDT, Jun 5   Anonymous 18 Male Easton None-But want to be Reserve.
2,760 6:57 pm PDT, Jun 1 Mrs. Claire Ellrick 30 Female Etowah Army wife
2,759 11:31 am PDT, May 25 Mrs. Anna Nyander 27 Female Lawton Active duty military spouse
2,758 9:43 am PDT, May 25   Pamylle Greinke 53 Female Peconic Daughter of a WWII Vet, who insists that this country he fought for perserve one of its basic premises, freedom of religion, in one of its own institutions !
2,757 8:29 pm PDT, May 15   Anita Kofta 47 Female Holmen a
2,756 11:23 am PDT, May 9 Mr. Lawrence Ellrick 31 Male Etowah Active Army
2,755 3:30 pm PDT, May 7 Ms. Jody Bennett 32 Female South Wales part of the United Kingdom Kimberly Campbell, from Orleans wrote "I have no affiliation but truly believe that Freedom of Religion means ALL RELIGIONS!" I coudn,t have said it better.
2,754 8:16 pm PDT, May 1 Mrs. Elysabeth TREKKER 61 Female France I am Wiccane of French.ET.
2,753 11:11 pm PDT, Apr 25 Mr. Jr. Rodriguez 33 Male San Diego Active National Guard
2,752 12:42 am PDT, Apr 22   Ryan Bailey 27 Female anchorage I am an army vet!
2,751 3:16 pm PDT, Apr 20 Mrs. Rebecca Hemingway 27 Female Citra I'm a Wiccan Minister myself through the Unitarian Universalist Church!

Save Our Wiccan Chaplain

The Sacred Well Congregation has been engaged with the Armed Forces Chaplains Board (AFCB) since September 1998 attempting to secure status as an endorser of chaplains to the Armed Services. This would allow us to nominate a member of our faith group to serve as a chaplain in the US military. Through a long series of bureaucratic maneuvers, and both passive and active bias on the part of some key officials, eight years later we still have no Wiccan Chaplain.

The Sacred Well Congregation is currently pending as an endorsing body for military chaplains. We need only to be able to present a viable candidate for appointment without waiver.

In the spring of 2006, US Army Chaplain (CPT) Donald M. Larsen contacted our Congregation to discuss the possibility of changing his endorsement. On July 6, 2006, we received a formal request from CH Larsen stating that he wished to be considered as our candidate for the AFCB certification process and immediately thereafter to change his endorser to the Sacred Well Congregation.

In a deviation from procedure, CH Larsen’s then-current endorsing body, the Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches (CFGC) was notified that CH Larsen was considering a change of endorsers and that, also, he was speaking to the Sacred Well Congregation, a Wiccan Church, about becoming his new endorsing body. Within hours CH Larsen’s endorsement was pulled by the CFGC. Without an endorsing body, CH Larsen is unable to act as a military chaplain. Furthermore, with no current endorser, a letter of good standing cannot be issued to the AFCB on CH Larsen’s behalf. This letter of good standing is crucial to his standing as a viable candidate without waiver for the Sacred Well Congregation’s AFCB certification process.

There is a clear and present need for a chaplain of the Wiccan faith in the US Armed Services. The Sacred Well Congregation has met every requirement put before us in our quest to become an endorsing body for military chaplains and this latest roadblock was caused by the unethical, unprofessional and discriminatory conduct of at least two US Army senior officers. This conduct has led directly to the immediate withdrawal of endorsement of a dedicated and distinguished battalion chaplain serving in Iraq.

This petition is in support of the Sacred Well Congregation’s attempt to become an endorsing body for US military chaplains and CH Larsen’s ability to serve in that capacity.

Note: This Save Our Wiccan Chaplain petition was submitted by Dr. David Oringderff. ThePetitionSite.com is a free service provided to help concerned citizens rally support for issues they believe in. The opinions expressed by this petition do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of ThePetitionSite.com or Care2.com. There is no express or implied endorsement of this petition nor any newsletter offers (except those from Care2.com) by Care2.com, Inc, ThePetitionSite.com, or our sponsors. If you believe this system is being abused, please contact customer support.

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