“In finding the sectarian plate unconstitutional, Judge Currie held, “Such a law amounts to state endorsement not only of religion in general, but of a specific sect in particular.” The judge noted that legislators and other state officials have unnecessarily drawn the state into an expensive lawsuit.”

I don’t see why non-Christians would have a problem with this.

This case had been a joint effort of local clergy and Americans United who felt the plate amounted to a state-sponsored endorsement of Christianity. This entire process has also been haunted by the Pagans in South Carolina and their own quest for equal treatment under the law. From the local politicians pushing the plates under the assumption that “any” religion could have their own tags, just so long as those tags weren’t from a Pagan faith, to the fact that the judge on this case also ruled in favor of Wiccan Darla Kaye Wynne during the Great Falls invocation saga. Our presence played a small part in reminding politicians, judges, lawyers, and journalists that  minority religions exist everywhere, even in the “Christian” South. That a Christian cross emblazoned on these plates sent a message of exclusion, not inclusion.

Of course the saga of Christian license plates is hardly over, the state of South Carolina could try to appeal the decision, and other states, most notably Florida, are engaging in the same shenanigans. But at least a message was sent today that America is not merely a “Christian” nation, but a nation of many religions, or of no religion at all, and you can’t raise one up in the government without pushing the others down in some fashion.

“[Greece deputy town supervisor Jeff] McCann said the town has long used a list of worship services published in a local newspaper to extend invitations to local clergy for the meetings. The list offers little diversity, he said, and the town has had difficulty locating people from nontraditional faiths who may not have a physical church building they attend. “Now that the issue has gotten some publicity, we’ve had people call up and say they have an interest in delivering a prayer,” he said, adding that nonclergy, the nonreligious and anyone else who wishes to speak the pre-meeting prayer is welcome. “If a private person wants to come and say a prayer, they can come and do it.” Indeed, he said, next month’s Wiccan prayer was initiated by local resident Jennifer Zarpentine, who called town offices to ask whether she would be welcome at a meeting.”

So local resident Jennifer Zarpentine did indeed give an opening invocation in Greece, making her re-think the issue of sectarian prayers now that she was included.

“In just a few seconds’ time during the April Town Board meeting, Jennifer Zarpentine made Greece history. Zarpentine, a Wiccan, delivered the first-ever pagan prayer to open a meeting of the Greece Town Board. Her hands raised to the sky, she called upon Greek deities Athena and Apollo to ‘help the board make the right informed decisions for the benefit and greater good of the community.’ A small cadre of her friends and coven members in the audience chimed in ’so mote it be … Zarpentine said she was pleased by the opportunity to pray at the meeting. ‘I thought the invocation went well,’ she said. ‘The board was respectful;, they all bowed their heads.’ As far as the lawsuit goes, Zarpentine said the town isn’t being discriminatory. ‘They are including everybody,’ she said. ‘They asked me.’”

Americans United were, naturally, unmoved by the town of Greece’s recent inclusiveness, so litigation moved forward. This past Thursday Americans United and the town of Greece (represented by the right-wing Alliance Defence Fund) gave their arguments to a judge and are now awaiting a summary judgement in about six weeks.

“In the hour-long hearing, Richard R. Katskee, assistant legal director for Americans United, argued that the plaintiff is concerned not with prayer before the meetings but with sectarian prayers that have dominated the practice since Auberger started it in 1999. According to court papers, of 104 prayers from 1999 through 2007, none were non-Christian. Since the lawsuit was filed, the majority of the prayers have been Christian, with one being delivered by a Wiccan priestess and two others by non-clergy. Katskee stressed that the plaintiff is not against Christian prayer, but that the prayers have been aimed at one sect … Joel Oster, a senior litigation counsel for Colorado-based Alliance Defense Fund that is representing Greece, said that it is not right to ask the town to police the clergy. “It is not the town’s place to tell the clergy what to say,” Oster said. “It would cause a nightmare for the town.” Auberger has said that the town’s practice is to have an open invitation to any Greece resident to contact the town about giving the prayer.”

So now we’ll find out if a legal fig-leaf in the form of a single sectarian Wiccan prayer (amidst a hundred Christian prayers to Jesus) can aid this New York town and their socially conservative legal team overcome the AU and some pretty strong legal precedents in their favor. Will Greece’s “include a Wiccan” gambit work? Or will they be forced to switch to non-sectarian prayers? In about six weeks we get to find out.

“Traditionally, the school has had a reverend deliver an invocation and benediction at the ceremony, but the practice recently was challenged by senior Jacob Davis. Davis, who raised his concerns in a Letter to the Editor at the Chillicothe Gazette, had conducted a petition of classmates for a moment of silence instead, gathering about 44 signatures. Principal Leonard Steyer was prepared to make a decision about the prayer Friday when he received a copy of a letter faxed to the district Thursday by a staff attorney for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State … Davis, a practicing Wiccan, said he is uncomfortable being asked to participate in a Christian prayer at his graduation, and contends the tradition violates separation of church and state provisions. “I think the best thing to do is have no other prayer,” Davis said … Davis indicated a student-led prayer wouldn’t bother him (even though he wouldn’t partake) because the student would be exercising his or her right to free speech.”

Davis was supported by the Lady Libery League and Americans United in his request, and it looks like his efforts were successful because Superintendent Brian Justice announced yesterday that no clergyperson will give an invocation or benediction.

“Southeastern High School graduates will not have a clergyperson delivering an invocation and benediction at their ceremony. Superintendent Brian Justice explained Wednesday he and the board are not anti-prayer, but are obliged to follow the law. “We will not violate the laws … (I and) my board of education believe in prayer, but we’re not for violating the law. Are we happy about it? No,” Justice said. Issues over the school’s tradition were raised by senior Jacob Davis, a practicing Wiccan, who felt the prayer violated the law and provisions for the separation of church and state. Davis issued his concerns through a letter to the editor to the Chillicothe Gazetteabout two weeks ago before speaking with administrators, Justice said.”

This most likely won’t eliminate prayer at the ceremony, no doubt one of the student speakers will decide to invoke Jesus or God during their time on-stage, but Davis has managed to remove school-sponsored public (Christian) prayer. Further, Davis has proven that only by speaking out and risking criticism and mockery (and I can only imagine some of the hate-mail Davis will be receiving in the weeks to come) can you effect the change you want to see in the world. Before now no one bothered to do anything about the school-sponsored clergy-led invocations and benedictions, it was considered a “tradition” and one that even non-Christian students probably didn’t give much thought to. But thanks to Davis the lulling refrain of “this is how we’ve always done it” has been challenged and the assumption of Christian adherence removed from the school’s functions. Speaking out may not always get you what you want right away, but sometimes merely speaking out (and a faxed letter from Americans United) does work.

Litigation over the 43-foot-tall Mt. Soledad cross has been under way for nearly 20 years. Several federal courts have ruled against its display on city property. In an effort to save the cross, the federal government acquired the land underneath the cross in 2006. Legal action proceeded against the federal government’s ownership of the towering religious symbol. In July of 2008, U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns ruled that the cross “communicates the primarily non-religious messages of military service, death and sacrifice” and can remain on public property.

Unsurprisingly, Americans United (along with other groups) have asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn this decision. They claim, sensibly enough, that a multi-religious military and nation cannot be symbolized by a Christian cross.

“American service personnel come from many different faiths and some follow no spiritual path at all,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. “It is disrespectful to our deceased veterans to use the symbol of only one faith to memorialize them all” … “That the cross is used in a veterans’ memorial here does not make it secular,” asserts the brief. “In fact, as a burial marker, the cross has been used almost exclusively for Christian burials in order to convey a sectarian message that the deceased lived and died as a member of a particular Christian community. And as a monument in a veterans’ memorial, the cross conveys a similar sectarian message: that only fallen Christian soldiers are being remembered. Given the ‘commanding presence’ of the Mt. Soledad cross in relation to the rest of the memorial, the primary message that this cross communicates is religious, not secular.”

Even if every body buried in that site were Christian (leaving aside the various doctrinal and denominational issues), do Christians really want their cross to become a secular communicator of “non-religious messages”? Further, this “secularization” is a rather recent invention. Until 1989 (when litigation started) it was known as the “Easter Cross” and it was dedicated to “Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”, which seems to undermine the notion that this is everyone’s non-religious cross-shaped memorial. The “secular” cross is just the latest gambit to circumvent state and federal law. It no more represents and honors Jews, Hindus, Muslims and atheists than the Wiccan pentacle does. To say otherwise undermines the hard work minority religions have undertaken to have their own symbols and traditions properly honored and recognized.

I don’t see why non-Christians would have a problem with this.

Supporters of the cross-emblazoned plates have argued that they are legal since any religious group can sponsor similarly biased tags, an argument that quickly falls apart when you speak to local officials about what exactly counts as a religion.

“In South Carolina, Baptists wanted the tag on cars here and pitched the idea to Republican South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer’s chief of staff. State Sen. Yancey McGill, a Kingstree Democrat, got the bill passed in a couple of days without even having a public hearing or debate. “It’s a great idea,” McGill said Tuesday, calling it an opportunity to express beliefs. “People don’t have to buy them. But it affords them that opportunity. I welcome any religion tags.” What about Wicca, commonly referred to as witchcraft? “Well, that’s not what I consider to be a religion,” McGill said.”

That sentiment doesn’t just apply to Wiccans of course, Muslims are right out too.

“Asked by a reporter if he would support a license plate for Islam, Rep. Bill Sandifer replied, ‘Absolutely and positively no… I would not because of my personal belief, and because I believe that wouldn’t be the wish of the majority of the constituency in this house district.’”

Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who is expected to release a written opinion concerning the injunction on Monday, is no stranger to protecting the rights of minority religions. In 2003 the judge ruled in favor of Darla Kaye Wynne, a Wiccan, who was battling against exclusively Christian invocations in the town of Great Falls. There is no word if Currie will also be overseeing the actual trial (though we can all hope). Whomever presides, this case will most likely be litigated for quite some time. South Carolina has become a “hot zone” for battles over church and state issues, and things are just getting warmed up.
]]> http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/12/i-believe-these-license-plates-are-now.html/feed 12 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/barry-lynn-and-psychic-wars.html http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/barry-lynn-and-psychic-wars.html#comments Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:17:00 +0000 Jason http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/barry-lynn-and-the-psychic-wars.html On his syndicated radio program Culture Shocks, Barry Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, examines the law banning fortune telling in Montgomery County, Maryland.

“Is an anti-fortune telling rule discriminatory or protective? Pagan witch and shamanic healer, Caroline Kenner joins us…”

Lynn interviews local Pagan activist and organizer Caroline Kenner, and “dirt worshiper” and diviner Diotima Mantineia about the law and its arbitrarily discriminatory nature. They also discuss the current lawsuit against the law brought by Nick Nefedro, who claims the law violates his rights.

“A fortuneteller is suing Montgomery County after he learned he would not be allowed to open a shop in Bethesda because the county bans the business of forecasting the future. Attorneys for Nick Nefedro, previously of Key West, Fla., say county officials violated his First Amendment rights to free speech and discriminated against his “Roma,” or Gypsy, culture when they refused to give him a business license.”

You can listen to the program online, here, or download the entire program. Lynn seems very interested in this case, and promises to write about it at length over at his new blog at Beliefnet. Something tells me we aren’t so far away from some planned civil disobedience and Americans United getting into the legal fray.
]]> http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/barry-lynn-and-psychic-wars.html/feed 0 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/secular-symbol-of-death.html http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/secular-symbol-of-death.html#comments Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:51:00 +0000 Jason http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/a-secular-symbol-of-death.html Is the Christian cross a secular symbol? That is the current opinion of Utah state officials and U.S. District Judge David Sam. This peculiar notion was reached in 2007, after local atheists challenged the placement of metal crosses along the highway to honor state highway patrol officers who died in the line of duty. Now American’s United, along with the Anti-Defamation League, the Hindu American Foundation, The Interfaith Alliance, and the Union for Reform Judaism, are challenging this ruling.

I don’t know how anyone could think this was religious!

Officials contend that the cross is secular, not religious, and it is being used regardless of the personal religious persuasion of the fallen officer. So atheist, Mormon, Pagan, Jewish or Hindu cops would all get the giant “non-religious” cross as a memorial.

The idea that the cross is “secular” ties into the larger notion that Christian religious expression and tradition, due to its size and ubiquity, is “normal” and ultimately beneficial. The corollary is that non-Christian religious expressions or traditions are “abnormal” and considered suspect. But popularity and tradition doesn’t remove religious context from a religious symbol, instead it subtly reinforces that faith’s dominance and “right” to utter ubiquity. If the cross was truly secular, we wouldn’t have 39 different emblems of belief for military markers and headstones, nor would minority religions fight to have their own symbols added to that list.

There is no “secular symbol of death”, any more than there is a “secular symbol of life”, because a truly secular culture allows groups and individuals to choose and adapt their own symbols and instill them with meaning. When governments and judges start telling us which religious symbols are “secular”, we enter into a hierarchy of signs, where the faith(s) with the strongest cultural hold gains official sanction in all but name. Undermining the idea that government should make no law “respecting an establishment of religion”.
]]> http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/secular-symbol-of-death.html/feed 5 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/05/aclu-south-carolina-and-religious.html http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/05/aclu-south-carolina-and-religious.html#comments Thu, 08 May 2008 15:30:00 +0000 Jason http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/05/the-aclu-south-carolina-and-religious-minorities.html As I have reported previously on this blog, South Carolina is quickly becoming one of the “hot zones” in battles over church and state. You had Wiccan Darla Wynne’s victory over sectarian prayer in Great Falls, the ongoing plan by conservative Christians to legislate around that judgment, and a controversial “I Believe” specialty license plate created solely for Christians about to be approved. So it is troubling to hear that the local chapter of the ACLU has become so dysfunctional that the national organization has swooped in to take over.

“If there is one state that can ill afford an ineffective chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union it arguably is South Carolina … in recent years [the SC ACLU chapter] been hampered by ideological squabbling among its board members, staff leadership turnover, lackluster membership and fundraising numbers and a virtually nonexistent media presence. Aware of the problems for some time, the national ACLU board has decided to step in and try to right the ship. The decision made national news.”

The only comfort here is that with the national ACLU board “driving”, we may see a revitalized ACLU chapter in South Carolina, and greater resources being poured into the looming legal battles developing in the state. Over the years the ACLU has been an important resource for modern Pagans seeking redress against discriminatory or unconstitutional policies and practices. Without the ACLU, and similar organizations like Americans United and the FFRF, many of the seminal legal cases that have helped establish precedents and decisions favoring the growth and free exercise of modern Paganism in America may not have happened.

Of course modern Pagans and church-state separation organizations don’t always see eye to eye. In New York, the town board of Greece is defending its sectarian prayer policy by making the opening prayers inclusive of all faiths. This has allowed a local Wiccan to deliver a sectarian Pagan prayer before a recent board meeting.

“In just a few seconds’ time during the April Town Board meeting, Jennifer Zarpentine made Greece history. Zarpentine, a Wiccan, delivered the first-ever pagan prayer to open a meeting of the Greece Town Board. Her hands raised to the sky, she called upon Greek deities Athena and Apollo to ‘help the board make the right informed decisions for the benefit and greater good of the community.’ A small cadre of her friends and coven members in the audience chimed in ’so mote it be.’”

Americans United, who recently helped win the veteran Pentacle case, is suing the town board in order to force it to switch to nonsectarian prayer (or no prayer at all). A move Wiccan Jennifer Zarpentine disapproves of.

“Zarpentine said she was pleased by the opportunity to pray at the meeting. ‘I thought the invocation went well,’ she said. ‘The board was respectful;, they all bowed their heads.’ As far as the lawsuit goes, Zarpentine said the town isn’t being discriminatory. ‘They are including everybody,’ she said. ‘They asked me.’”

Which illustrates a point where there is some divergence between groups like the ACLU and modern Pagans. Most modern Pagans are fine with religious expression so long as there is full and consistent inclusion. While the AU, and similar organizations, take a harder line of enforcing nonsectarian or nothing.

“We’re glad to see that the (Town Board) is now cognizant of the diversity of the community, and it’s too bad it took a lawsuit to get them to see the light … While the Wiccan prayer will likely be more inclusive than prayers offered in the past, that doesn’t change that what we want is for the town to adopt a policy that prayer-givers offer nonsectarian prayers.”

Despite these differences, our faith groups have generally experienced a net gain in allying ourselves with church-state separation advocacy organizations. This will most likely continue until modern Pagan organizations gather sufficient fiscal and political power to form their own legal advocacy groups. Even then, I don’t foresee a day where Pagans will be unhappy with the ACLU or AU fighting to keep religion out of politics in America. A truly democratic and secular country is one where the religious minority doesn’t have to fear outright discrimination or persecution.
]]> http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/05/aclu-south-carolina-and-religious.html/feed 3 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/04/roberta-and-patrick-stewarts-first.html http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/04/roberta-and-patrick-stewarts-first.html#comments Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:40:00 +0000 Jason http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/04/roberta-and-patrick-stewarts-first-freedom.html On March 26th, First Freedom First, a joint project of The Interfaith Alliance Foundation and Americans United, held a historic national live simulcast to talk about church-state separation.

“In movie theaters in 25 cities across the nation, interested citizens will gather to learn about the threats to church-state separation and to demand that presidential hopefuls and candidates for other offices answer questions about key issues dealing with individual freedom. A list of 10 great questions to ask candidates will be featured.”

Along with appearances by the famous and semi-famous (Kevin Bacon, Jack Klugman, Marc Maron), the special also highlighted individuals who embody the struggle over church-state issues. One of these was Roberta Stewart, a Pagan woman who fought for (and won) the addition of the Wiccan Pentacle as an approved “emblem of belief” (for grave markers and headstones) by the Veterans’ Administration. A battle she engaged in after her husband, Patrick Stewart, a Wiccan, was killed in Afghanistan.

Roberta Stewart with host Peter Coyote

“Americans United sued the Greece, N.Y., Town Board and its supervisor, John Auberger, on behalf of two local residents who object to government-sponsored religious activities that favor one faith over others. The lawsuit alleges that almost all of the board’s opening prayers are explicitly Christian, and that since 2004, only a single non-Christian has been invited to deliver the opening prayer.”

Stepping into the ring to do battle with Americans United is the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian legal organization.

“The case is a matter of religious freedom, said Joel Oster, senior litigation counsel for Alliance Defense Fund. The Arizona-based nonprofit Christian group litigates court cases involving religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and traditional family values. ‘The town of Greece is following a long-standing tradition established by our founding fathers, and that is to pray before events and ask for divine guidance,’ he said. ‘The town is just following in line with the great history and tradition of America.’”

Of course that “long-standing tradition” seems to have omitted non-Christians almost completely. The town, sensing their problem, scurries to become as inclusive as possible. How do you do that? You invite a Wiccan, obviously.

“[Greece deputy town supervisor Jeff] McCann said the town has long used a list of worship services published in a local newspaper to extend invitations to local clergy for the meetings. The list offers little diversity, he said, and the town has had difficulty locating people from nontraditional faiths who may not have a physical church building they attend. “Now that the issue has gotten some publicity, we’ve had people call up and say they have an interest in delivering a prayer,” he said, adding that nonclergy, the nonreligious and anyone else who wishes to speak the pre-meeting prayer is welcome. “If a private person wants to come and say a prayer, they can come and do it.” Indeed, he said, next month’s Wiccan prayer was initiated by local resident Jennifer Zarpentine, who called town offices to ask whether she would be welcome at a meeting.”

You would think that regular announcements at meetings, or perhaps a small ad in the local newspaper, would have helped flush out some non-Christian prayer-leaders before this whole mess started. Because now, inviting a Wiccan won’t be enough to stop litigation.

“We’re glad to see that the (Town Board) is now cognizant of the diversity of the community, and it’s too bad it took a lawsuit to get them to see the light … While the Wiccan prayer will likely be more inclusive than prayers offered in the past, that doesn’t change that what we want is for the town to adopt a policy that prayer-givers offer nonsectarian prayers.”

Unfortunately for the town of Greece, the law isn’t on their side. Several Supreme Court and Circuit Court rulings, including a prominent case involving a Wiccan, all point towards a requirement for non-sectarian prayer by legislative bodies. So if don’t want sectarian prayers to leave your city council or town board, you better become radically inclusive now, or else you’ll end up with enforced non-sectarian prayer and (most likely) a hefty legal bill.
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