Since when do we have "approved" religions?

The Pentagon has finally approved the pentacle, the Wiccan symbol of faith, for tombstones. In the New York Times' account of this decision, President Bush was quoted--from a 1999 interview regarding a decision back then to "allow" Wiccans stationed at Ft. Hood to worship--as saying, “I don’t think witchcraft is a religion, ... I would hope the military officials would take a second look at the decision they made.”

I find two aspects of this story troubling.

The first is the then governor/now president's quote. I don't think an elected offical should be deciding what is or isn't a religion. I also wonder what else he might not consider a religion. Atheism? Deism? Islam? Judaism? Catholicism? Who knows?

The second troubling aspect isn't quite that the government took so long to approve the pentacle as a symbol of faith--but rather that it could approve or disapprove at all. Doesn't Article VI of the Constitution pretty much cover that? That bit that goes "...no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." seems pretty clear to me. If not, what about the First Amendment's "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..."? The Constitution is crystal clear--there is no official or unofficial religion in the United States--it's a matter of conscience, the government stays out of the issue. I would think the proper course would be that each individual soldier decides what his or her symbol of faith is, and that that's what's used on his/her gravemarker.