Prisoner was barred from group worship on some Wiccan holidays. Court says he can sue.
LANSING – A Michigan prisoner may resume his lawsuit against prison officials who barred him from communal practice of his Wiccan religion during certain holidays, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.
Mario Sentelle Cavin, 40, a prisoner serving time for murder at Macomb Correctional Facility, went to trial in federal court in Detroit — and lost — over the right to communally celebrate Wiccan lunar holidays called Esbats, which happen about 12 or 13 times a year.
The department told Cavin he could celebrate the lunar holidays in his cell, but that would mean he couldn't worship with others or use candles or incense, as he could in the prison chapel.
Wicca, sometimes described as pagan witchcraft, is a religion involving worship of the forces of nature. Celebrations are tied to the cycles of the sun and moon. Many Wiccans worship both a goddess and a god they see as encompassing the life force behind creation.
Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/06/17/michigan-wiccan-holidays-worship/1477798001/
(Detroit Free Press)
