RICHMOND, Va. — A woman who calls herself a witch has won the right to lead an opening prayer at a Chesterfield County Board meeting. U.S. District Court Judge Dennis W. Dohnal ruled Nov. 13 that the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors discriminated against Cyndi Simpson, a Wiccan, when it prohibited her from joining a list of clergy to deliver the invocations. Wiccans consider themselves witches, pagans or neo-pagans. The judge said the board violated Simpson’s First and 14th Amendment rights of equal and free expression of her religious beliefs, while allowing Christians to practice theirs, and the separation of church and state clauses. Dohnal addressed several issues in his order, namely over the “legislative prayer,” which has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court for a governing body. In December, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed the lawsuit on behalf of Simpson, 47. She contacted the Chesterfield board last year and asked to be put on the list of volunteers for the opening prayer. Officials refused.
“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. A date for Simpson’s invocation has not been set.
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