Update: Chesterfield County to Appeal Case on Pagan Court Invocation

December 12, 2003

Source: Richmond Times - Dispatch

http://infobrix.yellowbrix.com/pages/infobrix/Story.nsp?story_id=44901592&ID=d9348d

On December 12, 2003 the Richmond Times - Dispatch reported that "Chesterfield County won't give up in the legal fight to block a witch from leading the invocation at Board of Supervisors meetings. County Attorney Steven Micas said he filed notice yesterday with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the county is appealing last month's district court ruling that declared Chesterfield's invocation policy unconstitutional. Last year, the board refused to let Cynthia Simpson, a follower of the Wiccan faith, volunteer to give the customary prayer to open the meetings. The clergy on the volunteer list are all from Judeo- Christian faiths... Micas argued that the county policy is legal because, historically, an 'American civil religion' has been established in the Judeo-Christian tradition."