Pagans can pray, too, a federal judge ruled Thursday in a case brought against county officials by a Wiccan who was barred from saying a prayer to open board of supervisors meetings.
U.S. District Court Judge Dennis W. Dohnal said the Chesterfield County board discriminated against Cyndi Simpson when it prohibited her from joining a list of clergy who deliver the invocations.
Wiccans consider themselves witches, pagans or neo-pagans, and say their religion is based on respect for the earth, nature and the cycle of the seasons.
"Chesterfield's nonsectarian invocations are traditionally made to a divinity that is consistent with the Judeo-Christian tradition," County Attorney Steven L. Micas wrote in a letter to Simpson in September 2002.
The judge said the board violated Simpson's constitutional right of equal and free expression of her religious beliefs, while allowing Christians to practice theirs by delivering the "legislative prayer," which has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court for use by a governing body.
Micas did not return a phone call seeking comment Thursday.
Simpson, who had not seen the written opinion, was delighted with the decision and said it would bring credibility to witchcraft as a religion.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed the lawsuit on behalf of Simpson, 47, last December after she was turned down by the board.
Kent Willis, executive director of the ACLU, called the ruling a victory for non-majority religions.