Greece [NY] sued over sectarian prayer

Meaghan M. McDermott • Staff writer
May 7, 2008

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."

Greece is embroiled in a legal battle over the prayers delivered before the meetings. In March, national church-state watchdog group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, filed suit against the town in state Supreme Court. the rest