This article comes to us from High Priestex Mortellus.
Note: This article is written from a first-person perspective. I am a clergy member and community organizer in Rutherford County, and am also an individual directly affected by the Town of Rutherfordton’s actions described here. All accounts are based on my firsthand experience, documented correspondence, and public records. This piece reflects my perspective as a Pagan clergy member navigating a situation with significant First Amendment and religious-freedom implications.
RUTHERFORDTON, North Carolina – On December 6, 2025, a small group of volunteers from Indivisible Rutherford NC—many of us Pagan, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, or otherwise marginalized—planned to gather on the Rutherford County Courthouse Lawn for a peaceful action called The Season of Enough. The intention was simple. To be present during the Town’s Christmas parade and offer a visible reminder that every family deserves enough, not just at Yuletide, but every day. Enough food. Shelter. Dignity. All those pesky necessities we rely on.
And the location, the Rutherford County Courthouse Lawn, is not just any patch of grass; it’s the center of civic expression in Rutherfordton, North Carolina. It is where, for decades, vigils, community remembrances, and demonstrations have taken place—a public forum in the truest constitutional sense.
But when a member of Pagan clergy attempts to be visible there during a government-sponsored Christmas parade? The rules suddenly seem to change.
Preamble of the U.S. Constitution – We the People.
“Reserved” and Documented Nowhere
On November 24th—the same day we requested a permit—we received notice that “the requested date” was “not available” and that the Town was “unable to accommodate additional permitted activities on December 6th”, going on to insist that the Courthouse Lawn is “reserved,” “in active use,” and “unavailable.” As both a community organizer and a clergy member, I know to ask for documentation. So I did.
The Town’s response? There is no documentation.
In fact, the only thing the Town was able to produce was a November 5 ordinance (ordinance No. 09-26), which does not mention the Courthouse Lawn at all. In fact, it doesn’t mention the parade staging areas, or the tree lighting, or any activities on county property— simply a two-hour road closure—and for First Amendment purposes, this matters. Government, even of the small town variety, cannot close a traditional public forum based on nothing more than discretionary statements, feelings, or a desire to maintain any particular optics—it must show operational necessity, and Rutherfordton has shown nothing.
When a Pagan Clergy Becomes a Problem
Many Wild Hunt readers will not be surprised by this next part. I had already, for some time in fact, been dealing with pushback from the Town regarding the use of my clergy name and title, despite it being federally protected under Title VII and established First Amendment doctrine. Town officials had repeatedly insisted I use my legal/dead name instead.
This is not a minor clerical inconvenience, but the kind of microaggression minority-faith clergy are used to navigating in the South. Our identities are treated as optional, our religious roles are treated as imaginary, and our traditions are treated as unserious unless filtered through a Christian frame. So when the Town later insisted that the only “alternative” channel for expression on December 6th was for me—and our group—to join the government-run Christmas parade, the irony was not lost on me. Nor were the constitutional stakes.
Main Street (U.S. Route 221) in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, United States. Photo Credit: Brian Stansberry (photographer) CC BY 4.0
Compelled Expression, Religious Coercion, and the Christmas Parade Problem
To participate in the parade as suggested, we would be required to adopt Christmas-themed religious symbolism, decorate a float to “contribute to the festive spirit of the parade,” submit to approval by parade marshals empowered to remove entries based on subjective moral judgments of appropriateness, and line up at a church before the parade (and disembark at yet another church). For a Pagan priestex, being told that the only acceptable way to exercise free speech is by joining a Christian parade—staged at a Christian church, with Christian theming—is not merely insulting. It’s unconstitutional religious coercion.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the government cannot require people to adopt majority-faith symbolism (Lee v. Weisman), favor certain religions (Larson v. Valente), or burden minority faiths through facially neutral rules that disproportionately impact them (Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah). This is not a theoretical problem; it is a lived one.
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The Real Engine Behind the Denial: Article VII
Digging deeper, Rutherfordton’s municipal code contains an ordinance—Article VII (“Parades and Demonstrations”)—that should concern every Pagan (and frankly, everyone concerned about civic freedom), because it requires a permit for any demonstration of ten or more people in any public place, requires 24 hours notice, eliminating spontaneous protest, grants broad discretion to deny permits, exempts Town-sponsored events entirely, and it makes peaceful assembly without a permit a misdemeanor, punishable by fines or jail.
Worse still, Rutherfordton has layered on extra-legal administrative barriers that function like a bottleneck on public speech. Residents have been told they may apply for only one permit at a time and no earlier than 45 days before the date requested, which, in practice, restricts who may speak, when they may gather, and whether dissent is allowed at all.
These kinds of laws are exactly why minority religions need strong First Amendment protections. When government—even well-meaning government—writes rules that criminalize public expression unless permission is granted, it is always marginalized voices who are silenced first. And yes, the Town Manager justified his denial by citing this very ordinance.
What Happens Next
We will still demonstrate—peacefully, joyfully, festively—on December 6, and will be doing exactly what Pagans have always done. Standing at the edges of power, insisting on being seen, holding candles in the dark season, and speaking truths that make some people uncomfortable. If the Town or County chooses to enforce an unconstitutional restriction, we are prepared to face that peacefully and challenge it lawfully.
Why Pagans Should Care
Many Pagan traditions understand winter as a liminal threshold—a time of deep truths revealed by cold clarity. What is happening in Rutherfordton is a small example of a much larger pattern: minority-faith practitioners being told that our identities are optional, our public presence is unwelcome, and our speech is conditional upon Christian norms. The First Amendment exists precisely to prevent this.
This December, while the Christmas lights glow across Main Street, we will stand on the Courthouse Lawn—not in defiance of Christianity, but in defense of the right of all religious identities to gather, speak, and be seen.
Because everyone deserves enough. enough space, enough voice, enough dignity.
Even us.
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