Prayer Led by Wiccan Ruled Off Agenda

A federal appeals court Thursday ruled against a Wiccan priestess who argued that she should be eligible to offer the opening prayer at a county meeting.

Cynthia Simpson sued Chesterfield County after she was excluded from a list of religious leaders allowed to pray at the Board of Supervisors’ meetings. In a letter to Simpson, the county explained the invocations “are traditionally made to a divinity that is consistent with the Judeo-Christian tradition.”

Wiccans consider themselves witches, pagans or neo-pagans. A lower court judge in 2003 ruled the county’s policy violated the Constitution by stating a preference for a set of religious beliefs. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed.