News

By Gudrun Schultz

TALLAHASSEE, Florida, June 12, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Wiccan group has challenged Florida state tax-exemption on sales of religious articles and publications, after the organization lost its own tax-exemption status on items for sale.

Tax exemption was withdrawn from the Wiccan Religious Cooperative because it did not own a place of worship, required by the Department of Revenue rules, reported the Orlando Sentinel on Friday. The group thenÂlaunched a lawsuit on Halloween 2000, claiming the law allowing tax-exemption on religious items is unconstitutional. Heather Morcroft, lawyer for the cooperative, said the exemption violates the First Amendment clause that prohibits state-sponsored religion.

Lawyers for the state and two tax-exempt religious newspapers want the case thrown out, on the grounds that the Wiccan group has no standing to initiate the suit because they are not harmed by the legislation. Kevin Shaughnessy, attorney for The Florida Catholic and The Florida Baptist Witness, and Deputy Solicitor General James McKee also said the exemption is not unconstitutional because some secular publications also receive the same tax break

The case has already been through a lower court and the 1st District Court of Appeal. A lower court trial judge upheld the law, although the ruling said the Wiccan group did have legal standing. The appeals court threw the case out without ruling, saying the Wiccans failed to show the law negatively affected them.

The case is now before the state Supreme Court. Attorney Morcroft wants the court to reverse the appellate court’s decision, and the trial judge’s ruling upholding the law’s constitutionality.

Wicca is a modern expression of paganistic spirituality, combining elements of many different non-Christian religions into a loosely woven pantheistic spirituality that emphasises nature-worship and the supremacy of the individual.