Wiccan Priestess Sues Chesterfield for Right to Pray

CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) - Should a Wiccan priestess be allowed to pray before meetings in Chesterfield County? It's a question that goes back more than a decade but is again making headlines.

Cynthia Simpson, a Wiccan priestess, made national headlines in 2002 when she sued Chesterfield County after it refused to include her on its list of religious leaders invited to pray at board meetings.

"I'm receiving religious intolerance from my own government," Simpson said in 2002. "It's not from a private group, it's not from an informal association, it's from my own government."

Simpson went on to sue Chesterfield and won, but eventually lost in the court of appeals. Her case made national news, but the ACLU says a recent Supreme Court ruling has reignited the fight.

Claire Guthrie-Gastanaga with the ACLU says the court recently ruled that prayers were allowed before meetings, but prayer opportunities must be available to people of all faiths. In a letter, the ACLU asks Chesterfield to rescind its policy of only allowing "ordained religious leaders of monotheistic religions" to give invocations before meetings.

http://www.wric.com/story/25645349/wiccan-priestess-sues-chesterfield-for-right-to-pray