Court rules in favor of Wiccan in prayer lawsuit

[Judi Lynn]

Court rules in favor of Wiccan in prayer lawsuit


By DAVID E. LEIVA
Associated Press Writer

Published November 13, 2003

RICHMOND, Va. -- Chesterfield County officials cannot endorse an official religious preference while excluding other religions from opening board meetings with a prayer, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Court Judge Dennis W. Dohnal ruled that the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors discriminated against Cyndi Simpson, a Wiccan, when it prohibited her from joining a list of clergy to deliver the invocations.

Wicca is a religion based on respect for the earth, nature and the cycle of the seasons. Wiccans consider themselves witches, pagans or neo-pagans.

The judge said the board violated Simpson's First and 14th Amendment rights of equal and free expression of her religious beliefs, while allowing Christians to practice theirs, and the separation of church and state clauses. (snip/...)

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--prayerlawsuit1113nov13,0,1828423.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia

[Kinkistyle]

1. Idiotic

I am happy that the Wiccan won her case, but it still bothers me that they open the county board meetings with prayers. Its idiotic. I hope a real Satanist decides to give a prayer, that'd be a riot.

[OldCurmudgeon]

7. oh it would be funny as hell to see them pop a gasket over that..

"let us now recite the Lord's prayer backwards....(oh, could you please hold this chicken, we'll need it later)...."

And they couldn't even claim that the satanists were "non-christian".

[leesa]

13. I agree that prayers shouldn't be happening, but this is important

because the Fundy christians need to realize that the knife cuts both ways. They want to force their religion into every public place, then they will need to accept that ALL the other religions and the atheists ALSO have a place. Hopefully they will realize the zoo it will become and they will see the wisdom of separation of church and state. I'm hoping MANY different religions apply for the government welfare that Bush has earmarked for the Fundie christians.

[quaker bill]

2. I expect this is the way to end it.

If the non-establishment clause is valid, then religions other than Christianity should be invited to do invocations as well. I could see muslim immams, wiccans, jewish rabbis and any other group that calls itself organized religion being invited.

It could make the "prayer in schools" issue very multicultural. At that point the religious right would drop it like a hot rock.

[Mari333]

3. Good. I wish I lived in town here to challenge the prayers

they say before every city council meeting, always saying the word "jesus" when they do...Im waiting for someone from our large Jewish or Muslim population to stand up to them...

[hang a left]

4. Oh they are gonna have a shit fit over at FR this morning!

Tee hee tee hee

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. No shit fit yet. Maybe some of our moles should post it

for their amusement?

[mikeytherat]

6. I live in Chesterfield, just down the street from one of the supervisors

and I told him a while back they were going to lose BIG TIME on this one. He asked why, and I told him because of this quote, from the County Attorney, to Cyndi Simpson:

County Attorney Steven L. Micas, in a letter to Simpson, said the invocations are "traditionally made to a divinity that is consistent with the Judeo-Christian tradition. Based upon our review of Wicca, it is neo-pagan and invokes polytheistic, pre-Christian deities."

http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031772097666

I told him: "The County Attorney just stated that only Judeo-Christian worshippers may give the invocation, and that all others need not even apply. This is a CLEAR violation of the Constitution, and the ACLU is gonna nail you guys for it. By the way, thanks for wasting my tax dollars on this shite."

mikey_the_rat

[HootieMcBoob]

8. this is the way to fight these people

it's the ju jitsue style of fighting the right wingers. use their own weight or in this case arguments to defeat them. it would be the easiest way too.

[iam]

11. They are not

right wingers, they are WRONG-wingers. Every word counts!

[Melsky]

9. This is great

I'm so glad it came out this way. I know there are similar things going on in various other parts of the US, recently I heard on the radio about one in Orange County, CA.

Why do they need to pray at meetings anyway? If it's that important, they can go to a private area before the meeting starts.

[MoonAndSun]

10. This will make the freepers head's explode. First Moore in Alabama

gets kicked off the bench, now the Wiccans have won a lawsuit. I love it!:evilgrin:

[sybylla]

12. YES!

This is exactly what the extreme right doesn't realize will happen if religious activities are to take place in our public institutions.

The supremes have said over and over again that in order to abide by the 2nd amendment, government must remain neutral in matters of religion. If we are going to have prayer in public institutions, the administrators of the government institutions cannot dictate what kind of prayer that is. Neither will they be able to dictate what kind of religious documents adorn our public property.

Woohoo. Can't wait to hear what the freeps have to say about this.

[David__77]

14. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

This is SOOOO funny! If there were no Wiccans or Nation of Islam, we'd have to enroll just in order to do this!

[beyurslf]

15. Just proves

that X-ians want to be able to preach at us and don't want to listen to us preach at them.

(By the way, X-ians shouldn't be confused with Christians. Christ was a peace loving man who taught tolerance, love, and acceptance. The right wingers in this coutry do nothing of the sort and so have no claim on his name. They are X-ians.)