Opinion of The Fourth Circuit
The Fourth Circuit, in a decision by Senior Circuit Judge John D. Butzner, Jr., affirmed the district court's ruling that Wicca was a religion, but vacated the injunction.
The appellate court considered but rejected the claims of the government about Wicca itself, which included that Wicca was a mere "conglomeration" of "various aspects of the occult, such as faith healing, self-hypnosis, tarot card reading, and spell casting, none of which would be considered religious practices standing alone," and that even if Dettmer's beliefs were religious, the rituals were not.
The conclusion of the Fourth Circuit was that the District court had found that Dettmer had a religious belief entitled to full First Amendment protections, but that he was not entitled to an injunction, since "he decision to prohibit Dettmer from possessing the items that he sought did not discriminate against him because of his unconventional beliefs."
Read more about this topic: Dettmer V. Landon
Famous quotes containing the words opinion of, opinion, fourth and/or circuit:
“What we seek is the reign of law, based upon the consent of the governed and sustained by the organized opinion of mankind.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“Hardly a man in the world has an opinion upon morals, politics or religion which he got otherwise than through his associations and sympathies. Broadly speaking, there are none but corn-pone opinions. And broadly speaking, Corn-Pone stands for Self- Approval. Self-approval is acquired mainly from the approval of other people. The result is Conformity.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Newsmen believe that news is a tacitly acknowledged fourth branch of the federal system. This is why most news about government sounds as if it were federally mandated—serious, bulky and blandly worthwhile, like a high-fiber diet set in type.”
—P.J. (Patrick Jake)
“Within the circuit of this plodding life
There enter moments of an azure hue,
Untarnished fair as is the violet
Or anemone, when the spring strews them
By some meandering rivulet, which make
The best philosophy untrue that aims
But to console man for his grievances.
I have remembered when the winter came,”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)