Pagan Community Reacts to McCollum Decision

June 2, 2011 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 82 Comments

Yesterday the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals published their ruling upholding a California district court’s decision to deny Pagan chaplain Patrick McCollum standing in his case against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. McCollum’s case centers on the State of California’s “five faiths” policy. This policy limits the hiring of paid chaplains to Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Native American adherents. While the state of California and the judge’s rulings made so far argue that McCollum doesn’t have standing to bring this case to court, that assertion is challenged by a number of legal advocacy groups and faith organizations. One of those groups, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, who filed a joint amicus brief in support of McCollum, sent me this statement regarding the Ninth Circuit’s decision.

“We are deeply disappointed by the court’s ruling.  Based on procedural technicalities, the court has allowed the California prison system to continue rank discrimination against Wiccan prisoners and chaplains.  The Constitution requires all persons to be treated equally regardless of what their religion is.  California’s practice of only paying chaplains of certain faiths, while requiring chaplains of other faiths to work for free, is religious discrimination that plainly violates the Constitution.” - Alex Luchenitser, Senior Litigation Counsel, Americans United for Separation of Church and State

In addition to Americans United, a number of prominent Pagan individuals and organizations have been weighing in on this latest development. Reclaiming co-founder, author, and activist Starhawk was one of the first to respond, making plain her deep disappointment in the ruling.

“I am deeply disappointed in the 9th Circuit Court’s ruling.  This is terrible setback for the rights of Pagans and of all prisoners to religious freedom.  I have personally experienced just a taste of the harrassment and obstacles placed in the way of those who would serve Pagans in the California prisons.  (See my account of a visit) Patrick McCollum has been tirelessly fighting for their rights for many years now, and I know he’ll continue, but more than ever he needs our support.  You can contribute at the Patrick McCollum Foundation web site.”

Patheos Pagan Portal Manager Star Foster said she was  “disheartened by the decision” but firmly believes “that the CA Dept. of Corrections policies are unconstitutional and will be changed.” Foster further noted that “this fight isn’t just about Wicca, and it doesn’t stop here.” Archdruid Kirk Thomas, speaking on behalf of Ár nDríaocht Féin, said they could “only express one reaction to this news – profound disappointment.” Thomas and the ADF say they “pray that equal treatment for all California prison inmates, regardless of religion, will eventually win the day.” California-based Pagan chaplain Joseph Nichter was “saddened and angered” by the news, and emphasized that Patrick McCollum “needs your help and support.”

Two groups that have worked very closely with Patrick McCollum over the yars, the Lady Liberty League and Cherry Hill Seminary also spoke out yesterday. Jerrie Hildebrand, Special Issues Coordinator and PR Coordinator for Lady Liberty League joined others in expressing disappointment in this ruling, and vowed that “the quest for religious freedom and equality will continue.” Holli Emore, Executive Director of Cherry Hill Seminary, released the following personal statement on the matter.

“In my tradition we hold sacred the balance of Ma’at, the principle which governed every aspect of ancient Egypt, and the goddess who stood by the scales at the weighing of each person’s heart after passing from this life. Patrick McCollum has spent so many years of his life seeking maat for all of us, including teaching for Cherry Hill Seminary, which supports Patrick’s fight for justice.  What does it take for the scales to return to a balance for Patrick and the Pagan inmates he has served these many years?  Only a week ago I wrote about my own decision to push back against those who would have marginalized my religion.  My situation is barely significant in comparison to Patrick’s long-running court case, but the lesson is clear: if we do not stand for our rights, with integrity, we will lose them.”

We still await word from Patrick McCollum on the matter, though he is outside the country right now and hard to access. I’m in contact with the Patrick McCollum Foundation and once I receive any formal statement, I will post it here. For now, what path McCollum and his lawyers might pursue remains an open question, though some think a Supreme Court appeal may happen. The Firefly House clergyperson David Salisbury, based in Washington DC, said his organization is ready to rally to McCollum’s side should a SCOTUS appeal go forward.

“Living in the nation’s capital, we are all too familiar with the legislative and political obsticles that have slowed the progress of equality for all. We were disappointed to learn of the 9th Circuit ruling and hope that McCollum’s legal team will press on. Should this matter be brought to the Supreme Court here in DC, our community will be ready to support this fight in the district.”

It’s clear that Patrick McCollum’s tireless work on behalf of Pagan rights has won him the support and admiration of a large cross-section of the Pagan community. The question now is how Pagans can best leverage that support towards ending California’s discriminatory policy, and fulfilling the constitutional promise of equal treatment under the law. As more reactions come in, you’ll be able to find them here at The Wild Hunt.

ADDENDUM: Statement from T. Thorn Coyle and Solar Cross on the ruling.

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Quick Note: Flying the Wiccan Flag?

November 10, 2010 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 20 Comments

A controversy is brewing in King, North Carolina over the flying of a Christian flag at the city’s community veterans memorial. Amid protests and threats of litigation, the city council reached what they thought would be an acceptable compromise solution.

“The King City Council approved a policy Monday night that eventually would allow a Christian flag to fly again at a memorial at the city’s Central Park as a part of a limited public display of religious flags recognized by the U.S. military. Members of the Army Chaplain Corps wear four symbols on their uniforms — the Christian cross, the Jewish tablets and Star of David, the Buddhist dharma-chakra and the Muslim crescent, said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a spokesman for the U.S. Army. There are also 41 religious symbols that can be placed on grave markers at Arlington National Cemetery. The city’s new policy will lay out which flags and symbols would be displayed at the memorial.”

But proponents of the Christian flag, formed into the newly-christened “King Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Foundation”, are threatening a lawsuit should the wrong kind of flags be allowed to fly.

“Many of the foundation’s members are concerned that the city may allow religious flags such as the Muslim Crescent and Star flag, the satanic flag and Wiccan flag, all of which are recognized by the U.S. military, to be flown at the memorial, James said. “There is room for expansion for this memorial,” James said. “No one has asked for another flag to be put up there. But someone asked for our flag to be taken down.”

A local television station’s report on the matter is even more blunt.

“The question we’re raising now is the possibility of having say, the Wiccan flag flown or the Satanic flag flown, which are recognized by the U.S. military — or a Muslim flag flown over a U.S. veterans memorial,” group leader Stephen James said.

First, if they are only going to fly approved VA emblems of faith, then they wouldn’t have to worry about a “Satanic flag”, but yes, Islam and Wicca both have emblems approved by the Veterans Administration. In fact Wiccan, Pagan, and Muslim military personnel have all died in the line of duty for the United States, something that doesn’t seem to matter all that much to the Christian flag proponents. It seems to be all or nothing for them.

“The complaint would be filed with the N.C. Office of Administrative Hearings only if a majority of people attending a public meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 22 about the proposal objected to it, said Stephen James of King, an organizer of King Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Foundation. The group was started Monday night by about 25 people. “But we will have that option (filing the complaint) ready if we need it,” he said.”

Further, as pointed out by Americans United, local Christians are already scheming ways to make sure no faith other than Christianity gets a turn under the compromise agreement. A public meeting is scheduled on November 22nd to lay out the details of the compromise, but I can’t see this going anywhere except into the courts. If Americans United feels that the policy is too restrictive they’ll sue, and if the policy is too open the King Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Foundation will sue. That the mere possibility that Pagan (or Muslim) military personnel might be honored in King, North Carolina would trigger a lawsuit shames every veteran who fought or died for our country’s religious freedom. This is all about Christian triumphalism, and very little to do with the men and women we’re supposed to be honoring tomorrow on Veteran’s Day.

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No Secular Christian Crosses in Utah

August 19, 2010 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 3 Comments

Is the Christian Cross a “secular symbol of death”? That was the assertion of U.S. District Judge David Sam back in 2007 regarding a series of metal crosses along the Utah highway to honor state highway patrol officers who died in the line of duty. This ruling was appealed in 2008, with support from Americans United, the Hindu American Foundation, The Interfaith Alliance, the Union for Reform Judaism, and others. Officials contended that since the cross is secular, not religious, it would being used regardless of the personal religious persuasion of the fallen officer. So atheist, Mormon, Pagan, Jewish or Hindu cops would all get the giant “non-religious” cross as a memorial. However, yesterday, a three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that these crosses were not “secular” and were in fact, as they have always been, symbols of the Christian faith.

“We hold that these memorials have the impermissible effect of conveying to the reasonable observer the message that the state prefers or otherwise endorses a certain religion,” concluded the Denver, Colorado-based court. The state of Utah and a private trooper association have the option of appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Not a secular symbol of death.

Not a secular symbol of death.

This ruling is the latest salvo in the ongoing battles over whether a Christian cross on public lands can ever be secular in orientation. The Supreme Court of the United States recently decided that in certain instances, specifically a eight-foot Christian cross WWI memorial situated on public lands in California’s Mojave National Preserve, it could.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, spoke in broad terms. Although the cross is “a Christian symbol,” said Kennedy, it was not placed on sunrise rock in the Mojave Desert to send “a Christian message.” Nor was it placed there to put a government “imprimatur on a particular creed.”

I’ve long argued that neither tradition, popularity, or ubiquity fully erases a religious symbol’s sectarian nature.

“The idea that the cross is “secular” ties into the larger notion that Christian religious expression and tradition, due to its size and ubiquity, is “normal” and ultimately beneficial. The corollary is that non-Christian religious expressions or traditions are “abnormal” and considered suspect. But popularity and tradition doesn’t remove religious context from a religious symbol, instead it subtly reinforces that faith’s dominance and “right” to utter ubiquity. If the cross was truly secular, we wouldn’t have over 40 different emblems of belief for military markers and headstones, nor would minority religions fight to have their own symbols added to that list.

There is no “secular symbol of death”, any more than there is a “secular symbol of life”, because a truly secular culture allows groups and individuals to choose and adapt their own symbols and instill them with meaning. When governments and judges start telling us which religious symbols are “secular”, we enter into a hierarchy of signs, where the faith(s) with the strongest cultural hold gains official sanction in all but name. Undermining the idea that government should make no law“respecting an establishment of religion”.”

More simply, you do not honor a Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, or Pagan by erecting a Christian cross in their name, any more than erecting a giant pentacle would honor a fallen Christian.

“The mere fact that the cross is a common symbol used in roadside memorials does not mean it is a secular symbol,” said the panel. “The massive size of the crosses displayed on Utah’s rights-of-way and public property unmistakably conveys a message of endorsement, proselytization, and aggrandizement of religion that is far different from the more humble spirit of small roadside crosses.”

The state of Utah and the Utah Highway Patrol Association are expected to appeal, so we may see how far SCOTUS is willing to go regarding the issue of “secular” crosses on public lands. Considering the fact that Justice Scalia thinks it’s “outrageous” to think that a Christian cross only honors Christian dead, we may see further advancements in efforts to secularize this religious symbol (no matter what the long-term ramifications of that may be).

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Including a Wiccan Works!

August 9, 2010 By Jason Pitzl-Waters 15 Comments

Is your town being sued by Americans United (or the ACLU, or the FFRF) for holding sectarian prayers before meetings that invoke Jesus repeatedly? It looks like inviting a Pagan to the proceedings as a legal fig-leaf may just save the day. The town of Greece in New York has just won what may be a landmark decision in Federal District Court over the issue of public invocations at government meetings.

On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Siragusa ruled in favor of the town and dismissed the suit. “The Town did not begin having prayer at meetings in order to proselytize or advance any one, or to disparage any other, faith or belief,’” Siragusa wrote. “…The Town’s prayer policy, to the extent that one exists, is to invite clergy from all denominations within the Town, without any guidance or restriction on the content of prayers. The Town will also permit anyone who volunteers to give an invocation, including atheists and members of non-Judeo-Christian religions such as Wicca, and has never denied a request by anyone to deliver a prayer.” The town has invited clergy to the meetings by using a list of churches included in a local newspaper and by accepting requests from anyone else who was interested. There are few houses of worship in Greece that are not Christian.

So how diverse has the town’s opening prayers been? In the original suit, Americans United noted that “over the past decade, all but two of the prayergivers have been Christian.” The “non-Judeo-Christian” religions, specifically Wicca, didn’t come into play until litigation had been already been threatened against the town. Enter Jennifer Zarpentine, a local Wiccan, who provided the first sectarian Pagan invocation to the Town of Greece.

“In just a few seconds’ time during the April Town Board meeting, Jennifer Zarpentine made Greece history. Zarpentine, a Wiccan, delivered the first-ever pagan prayer to open a meeting of the Greece Town Board. Her hands raised to the sky, she called upon Greek deities Athena and Apollo to ‘help the board make the right informed decisions for the benefit and greater good of the community.’ A small cadre of her friends and coven members in the audience chimed in ‘so mote it be.’”

Zarpentine would go on to defend Greece’s invocation policy, telling the press that they are “including everybody”. Conservative Christian advocacy organization the Alliance Defence Fund, who represented Greece in these proceedings, are understandably excited by their win.

“America’s founders opened public meetings with prayer. Public officials today should be able to do the same,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Joel Oster. “Opening public meetings with prayer has always been lawful in America, and the court here affirmed that it still is today.” “As the court itself concluded, invocation policies like the Town of Greece’s are constitutional,” Oster explained. “In fact, the court specifically pointed out that government attempts to mandate watered-down prayers that don’t mention a specific deity, as demanded by Americans United, would violate the First Amendment by placing government in control of the content of prayer. An organization with ‘separation of church and state’ in its name should not advocate for a violation of the Establishment Clause.”

An AU spokesperson said they were “obviously disappointed” by the ruling, but there has been no official statement, nor word on if they plan to appeal the ruling. You can download a PDF of the decision and order, here. The question now is if this twist in the battles over sectarian prayer at government meetings will stand up to legal scrutiny, or if it will be overturned on appeal. In other cases, mere randomness hasn’t been enough, so will towns being served cease-and-desist letters go the extra step of inviting a Pagan to the proceedings? It will also be interesting to see how diverse Greece stays once the legal dust has settled. Will Jennifer Zarpentine be invited back to invoke Apollo and Athena on a semi-regular basis? What do you think? Are sectarian prayers OK if they are suitable diverse?

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