Posted on 10/11/2005 5:23:40 PM PDT by wagglebee
A practicing witch who sought to have her prayers heard at government meetings in a Richmond, Va., suburb had no magic before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Justices rejected an appeal by Cyndi Simpson, a Wiccan priestess and member of the Broom Riders Association, who wanted to offer a generalized prayer to the "creator of the universe" in Chesterfield County, Va.
"I wasn't going to talk about the goddess," Simpson said previous to today's decision. "I was going to call the elements, maybe offer up an invocation to the highest being."
Simpson had argued that Christians and members of other faiths were allowed to provide invocations before county meetings, but she was being excluded because of her pagan, polytheistic beliefs.
Wicca is regarded as a natural religion, "grounded in the earth." Followers of its many different forms generally believe all living things, as well as stars, planets and rocks, have a spirit.
American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Rebecca Glenberg said the county "issues invitations to deliver prayers to all Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders in the country. It refuses to issue invitations to Native Americans, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Wiccans or members of any other religion."
Some 235 congregations, the bulk of which are Christian, were on the county's approved list in 2003. The Islamic Center of Virginia is also on the list, and its imams have been involved in giving prayers occasionally.
In a letter of explanation to Simpson, County Attorney Steven L. Micas said, "Chesterfield's nonsectarian invocations are traditionally made to a divinity that is consistent with the Judeo-Christian tradition."
With help from the ACLU, which ironically often opposes most expressions of prayer at government events, Simpson sued and initially won before a federal court judge who ruled the county board violated Simpson's constitutional right of equal and free expression of her religious beliefs.
But at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, she lost when jurists found Chesterfield County had amended its policy and directed clerics to avoid any mention of Jesus Christ.
The legal precedent covering most government assemblies is the 1983 Supreme Court case of Marsh v. Chambers, where justices noted:
In light of the unambiguous and unbroken history of more than 200 years, there can be no doubt that the practice of opening legislative sessions with prayer has become part of the fabric of our society. To invoke Divine guidance on a public body entrusted with making the laws is not, in these circumstances, an "establishment" of religion or a step toward establishment; it is simply a tolerable acknowledgment of beliefs widely held among the people of this country. As Justice Douglas observed, "[w]e are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being."
Does a communal prayer, given up from a body of people who do not necessarily believe, move or please God?
It is good for a body of believers to join in communal prayer -- we were made for both personal and corporate worship. But does it please God to hear the prayers of people who may or may not believe, who do it as a matter of ritual or public appeasement? Perhaps it is in a small way a public acknowledgment of His existence, but if this is not believed in the hearts of those who say or hear the words, does God delight in such acknowledgment?
Years back, my husband's local bar association had a meeting opened with a prayer to the goddess. He and the other Christian attorneys with whom he sat were disgusted and did not participate. Fortunately, there was a Christian Legal Society with whom he met to pray and address issues pertinent to law and faith. Within this group of like-minded individuals with a common core faith, prayer was natural and blessed. But I would prefer to do away with prayer altogether than to offer the deity-of-the-month style supplication so common in governments and institutions. Instead, I'd like to see Christians gathering together before meetings to offer prayers.
This nation has lost its moral compass. Our hope, our standard, our true north must be found in the Word of God. Rather than looking to the government for direction and for restoration, we need to look within ourselves for areas which need repentance, seek forgiveness and transformation from God, and work to make our own thoughts, words and deeds pleasing to Him, all with the indispensable aid of His Spirit. We begin with ourselves and our families, then our neighborhoods, communities, and outward, until these community prayers can be offered in earnest.
Yeah, Freudian typo there, to say the least.
see above post re. /parody tag.
But... they will be soon.
Wealth, like water, flows to the lowest point.
But... they will be soon.
Wealth, like water, flows to the lowest point.
>>>But at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, she lost when jurists found Chesterfield County had amended its policy and directed clerics to avoid any mention of Jesus Christ. <<<
A more accurate ruling would have been that Chesterfield County is guilty of violating the original intent of the founding fathers by forcing the avoidance of the use of the doctrines of Jesus Christs as a foundation for the morality our society.
*snicker*
Unfortunately, if mathematics has any validity at all, you and I can never identify or know the Truth. All we can know is that it exists and that we will never be able to discern it.
the VAST majority of petitions are rejected. The petitioner knew this. She is just milking the rejection for the fake religion.
Moonbat Dirt Worship Ping!
one crazy cult at a time.
I bet dollars to donuts she will now write a book and sell it to all the new age stores.
She is a snake oil salesman who is going to push her made up religion (see Gardner) to other suckers for $9.95.
/Obscure?
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What does this have to do with the subject?
*** DING DING DING *** No more calls; we have a winner.
Strange, offshoot sects growing into a major player.
To a believing Christian, the answer -- an emphatic no -- has already been given:
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. --Matthew 6:6
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