This FAQ is intended to answer some of the questions about the legal issue involving Iron Oak and the City of Palm Bay, FL. It is not intended to advertise or "push" Iron Oak, but to help people understand why Iron Oak is asking for support both inside and outside the Pagan community and how the litigation may affect anyone. If you have any questions that are not answered, please send them to me and I will try to answer them either directly or in the next revision of the FAQ or both. Our mail address is:
PO Box 060672Iron Oak is fighting a legal battle which we believe will help anyone in a non-traditional religion. America has for many years been reluctant to tolerate non-traditional religions. Now, with the advent of active religious extremists, the little momentum gained may be reversed. Occasionally, a window of opportunity opens and some group of unfortunate souls becomes trapped in a issue which can become a stepping-stone in either direction. Iron Oak is such a group. We did not ask for it, but since it is thrust onto us, we will do the best that we can to make this battle one that others will not have to fight. However, we cannot succeed without your help.
I will try to answer any questions that are put to us. I know that I will miss a few, so please ask. If you just have suggestions, we welcome those also. We are just a few people here, so we may not be able to respond to everyone, especially when things heat up. However, we will do the best we can.
The Church or Iron Oak is a Wiccan/Pagan church in Melbourne, Florida. We are part of Aquarian Tabernacle Church (ATC) centered in Index, Washington. ATC is a church started by Pete Pathfinder Davis and incorporated in 1976. It is an English Traditional Wiccan Church.
We are also members of the Covenant of the Goddess (COG), Dogwood Local Council. Iron Oak was incorporated in October 29, 1992 and became affiliated with ATC in Sept 1992. As part of ATC, we are also a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt corporation.
By calling ourselves a Wiccan/Pagan church, we mean that we conduct primarily Neopagan rituals, workshops and classes, but those who wish to initiate can be trained in a Wiccan path. Iron Oak is administered by the Coven of Phoenix Rising composed of seven initiated Wiccans with a total of almost 100 years of initiated experience among them. The eldest member, Lord Jacobus, received his training and initiation in 1957. The traditions in Iron Oak include English Traditional, Egyptian and others.
Iron Oak is headed by High Priestess Jacque (Omi) and her husband Roger (Paraselsu). Jacque has a masters degree in business and systems management. Roger is an electrical engineer with 30 years in the electronics field. Jacobus is a civil engineer with 42 years experience. Other members of the coven are Neithe, Eaglerocc, Bear, and Circe. Outside the coven are a number of dedicated members, ranging from non-initiated to full elders.
Iron Oak provides a 12 week intro class and a year-long advanced (pre-initiate) class at its downtown Melbourne office at 901 E. New Haven (this is not the mailing address). It also has seven groves which provide in-depth training in more specialized areas. There are about 20 different specialty workshops at $15 each. The church newsletter is the Voice of the Anvil, a 16+ page monthly newsletter that costs $10/year.
Our logo shows the Sumerian "Phoenix" or solar disk rising out of an anvil. It has the meaning of the rising spirit from the sacred work. The idea of sacred work is often associated with the alchemists, but in fact comes from the ancient iron smiths. It is the concept of sacred work which is often related to quality of craftsmanship. We use the concept of sacred work to help people develop inner strength, converting the sacredness of the work to sacredness of inner spirit.
The iron smiths were people who melted and shaped iron. Iron was believed first discovered and extracted from iron-bearing meteorites. The meteorites were considered to be gifts from the gods. The Sumerians called iron An-bar meaning "sky metal". The Egyptian word Ba-en-pet, means "metal of heaven". When Cortez asked the Aztecs where they got the iron for their knives, they pointed to the sky.
The smith then placed the iron in a hot fire, about 800 degrees hotter than that needed to melt copper, about 1500 degrees hotter than a ordinary camp fire. What kind of powerful magicians were these who could do such things? The smith became a magician as well as a craftsman. This notion was not lost on the smiths since they were a product of the same culture. As a result, the work that the smith did became sacred - the work of the gods being done on earth. In most ancient religions, there was a smith god who is often the creator of the world or the sun.
The phoenix rises, as does the spirit of those who create the sacred work. The work shapes the person. If they take pride in their work, they will create self-respect for themselves. In that regard, we help people create a bond between their spirit and the god or goddess within. The sacred part of themselves that may be called their higher spirit, guardian angel or simply deity within. No matter what it is called, it is the part of us which we must strive to reach.
Our name derived from a similar concept. The iron represents the sacred work and the oak represents the strength of nature. Together, they form a bond. The same bond we celebrate when we go out into the street to clean it under the Adopt-the-Road program. Mankind and nature need not be adversaries, they can be partners. In the words attributed to Chief Seattle, "The earth does not belong to us, we belong to the earth". As we empower the spirituality within us and the nature about us, we become strong in spirit. We become "Strong as Iron and Steady as the Oak".
The Aquarian Tabernacle Church is a Pagan church, following the Old Religion, based on the beliefs and practices of the indigenous peoples of Northern Europe. It is a religion established, reconstructed and practiced primarily in the British Isles and is adapted to the twentieth century by the founders of this particular tradition, one among the many Pagan paths to spirituality existent today.
ATC is headed by Pete Pathfinder Davis, the founder and High Priest of ATC, founded in 1979. It is located in Index, Washington. The facilities include a Retreat House and Church facility in which regular, open worship circle gatherings are held. It is also the site of retreats, workshops and mini-festivals. the building contains a library, a sizable kitchen, meeting rooms of sanctuary and a dormitory with accommodations for about 25 over-nighters. An outbuilding contains a hot-tub and wood-fired sauna for ritual cleansing of both mind and body.
Pete is not shy about his Paganism. He is the son of a woman who freely proclaimed she was a Pagan, without incident. He has advocated open Paganism uniting the enormous numbers of solitary Pagans rather than close-knit secretive groups. He is a "do-er" rather than a talker and has served as both a means and a catalyst of change. In 1994-95 he served as the Vice-president of the Seattle Interfaith Council and is the current nominee for President.
It is his activism which has formed a basis of credibility attracting many in the Pagan community into the ATC fold. Iron Oak elders saw in Pete, a professional clergyman who is committed to the task of making Paganism a viable alternative for many Americans.
Early in 1994, a distant neighbor drove by our one-acre homesite (not the church) and saw us in our back yard celebrating Imbolc with some friends. Probably remembering all the Saturday night horror shows she had ever seen, she complained to the City. The police knew there was nothing wrong here and took no action. Rebuffed by the police, she and some friends contacted Planning and Zoning officials who were willing to go further with the complaint.
The City of Palm Bay cited us, for operating a church in a residential area without a variance. The City claims that we, the ministers, are operating a church at our home by having six festival celebrations per year in our back yard despite the fact that all public church functions are held in Melbourne. The immediate neighbors have no complaint and stated that based on conversations they had with the distant neighbor, the motivation was based on an obvious religious bias. Two City officials threatened us with fines and arrest if we had more than five people on our property for worship or prayer, even "over a birthday cake". (Arrest is obviously ridiculous for a zoning citation, but the threat was never-the-less made.)
The City first cited, then dropped the citation amid a flurry of publicity, then cited us again when the publicity cooled down. The City has also conducted a pattern of harassment against us including publishing our home address in the paper, opening us up to the local crackpots. We have NEVER publicly advertised our home as a location of the church, but do regularly advertise the Melbourne location.
On October 11, 1994, we brought suit against the City of Palm Bay, Florida in Federal Court to ask for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the City. In preliminary proceedings, the City testified that weekly outdoor barbecues are fine, but not if they are combined with worship. According to the City, only one worship activity per year is allowed in a Palm Bay residence. This position created alarm among the local Christian community which commonly holds prayer meetings and church activities in homes WEEKLY before the congregation has accumulated funding for a church building. As a result, 14 Christian ministers have come to support us because they recognize their weekly services would be even a greater violation of this interpretation. Two testified for us at the hearing saying that they regularly held public church services in their Palm Bay homes.
It is interesting to note that the City code says nothing about how many services can be held in a home, but only specifies that a building specifically intended as a church must be properly built and zoned for public access. Also, the City confirmed that to get a variance, we would have to tear down the house and build a church building with pews and various commercial requirements instead.
The second citation resulted in a hearing that lasted for three days! In the cross examination portion of the nearly four hours of testimony given by the City zoning inspector, he admitted that nothing in the house, in the yard, the parking of cars, dress of the guests, activities of the guests, or incorporation papers was against the code. He admitted that he could not testify to any violations based on what he saw, but he went along with the decision of his superiors to cite us.
On November 21 at 7:20 PM, the Code Enforcement Board voted UNANIMOUSLY NOT to charge Iron Oak ministers Jacque Zaleski and Roger Coleman with a zoning violation. When the questioning of Jacque and Roger finished, the attorneys for each side made a seventeen minute closing argument. A motion to find us NOT in violation was made and seconded. The debate lasted less than five minutes, and much of that was the statement of the motion itself. When the dust settled, the City of Palm Bay Planning and Zoning officials were left with nothing but a cost to the tax payers of $45,000 for their mistake.
We won, but what did we win? The City spent over $45,000 to prosecute us and we spent more than $22,000, most from our home equity, for defense. We have, however, received contributions of more than $4000 and other help. Considering the cost of any further action by us, we could stop now...but wait a minute. Can the average person afford to shell out $22,000 to protect their right to worship? Probably not. If you think there are bunches of civil rights groups falling over to help, forget it. They have plenty of other cases and most are spread too thin to help. Our local ACLU was for us, but they did not have the money to help. They had already had to stop assisting an earlier case because they did not have enough money. Locally, we had to fight the battle alone and after talking to others in similar situations, so did they.
We cannot stop here, because if we do, it will be another signal that cities can go against other small groups because they cannot afford to defend themselves. A win at our local code enforcement level will do nothing for anyone else.
In 1993, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) which is supposed to help people in our situation, regardless of their faith as well as the Jews, Baptists and others. The only problem is the cost to go to Federal court which is required to use RFRA. The Southern Baptist Convention is large enough to support small Baptist churches, so their rights will be respected. But, what do smaller groups do? It is now time for us to band together for the rights of our people.
Iron Oak is willing to fight the battle by taking the City of Palm Bay to Federal Court because of their actions against us and beyond if necessary so precedent is set. If we win, governments across the country will take a long, hard look before prosecuting people for worshipping in their homes or on their property. This is a "must win"! Going to Federal court is a big thing. It is bigger than us, bigger than Iron Oak, bigger even than the local Pagan community. It is of national proportions and national interest. It will make history. We can and WILL win if we have the support of the national Pagan community. We MUST win!
In early January (1995), we instructed our lawyer to proceed with the Federal suit. The next hearing is scheduled for December 1, 1995 at the United States District Court, Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division, Judge Anne Conway presiding. It is case number 94-1043- CIV-ORL-22. We have from now until then to raise the money needed and get the depositions during the summer ($20,000 worth). If we cannot raise the money, then we may have to drop the suit. I believe that we will be able to continue based on the support we have thus far. Why? Because, we are not sitting, waiting for money to come in. We are trying to raise the needed money.
Nybor, a Pagan artist who's art has been shown at many Pagan and medieval festivals, designed a tee-shirt for us to be used as a fund- raiser. We have been selling the shirts across the country and internationally. We have held several Psychic Fairs and have had craft weekends for members to make crafts to sell as fundraisers. We have held a number of workshops to raise money and we will be sponsoring two weekend festivals this year. We are now negotiating with several naturalist camps to find a suitable site. One will be called Solstice Freedom Festival (June 23-25, 1995) and the other is Samhain Freedom Festival during October 20-22, 1995. In addition, several groups across the country will be putting on fund-raisers to raise funds for the litigation.
Nybor painted the tee-shirt art and it is beautiful! The shirt is a high quality, white Hanes Beefy-T with a Nybor original multi-color painting silk-screened on to it. The painting shows a skyclad woman facing away toward a fire with her arms up as in evoking the fire itself. Around the outside are the words: "NEVER AGAIN THE BURNING". Below, in smaller letters: "Church of Iron Oak Legal Defense Fund". The shirts sell for $18 (medium, large, x-large), $21 (XXL and XXXL). Shipping cost is $2 for the first shirt and $1 for each additional shirt.
If you have a way to access Internet HTTP sites and see pictures, you can see the tee-shirt art. The URL is:
http://www.cog.org/cog/local/councils/ironoak.html
Covenant of the Goddess, home page is http://www.cog.org/cog/
Your local metaphysical shop may also have them, just ask. If they do not, let us know. We will send them information. You may also get information from Iron Oak directly at:
The Church of Iron Oak, ATCWe need legal help, money, legal research, fund raising and energy! We need to get the word out, and we need help selling the tee-shirts. We have received several thousand dollars worth of free legal help and we will need more. We need to raise more than $20,000 during this year (1995) to pay for testimony, legal fees and transportation costs for witnesses. The case may not stop at this level of Federal Court, so the effort may be on-going, perhaps even to the Supreme Court.
Ultimately, there is nothing we can do to prove what we say is true, but we can provide you with some ways of checking. First, our lawyer is Burton Green, Fla Bar #199389, located at 43 South Atlantic Ave, Cocoa Beach, 32931, Phone: (407) 784-4957 and Fax: (407) 799-1906. He is also the holder of the escrow account which will pay for the Federal suit. Newspaper articles appeared about us printed in the Palm Bay edition of Today Newspaper on April 28, 1994, April 30, 1994 and almost weekly until January 7, 1995.
We have spent $22,000 so far of our own money and will be spending more. Our funds are limited and we had to take a second mortgage on the house to fund our defense.
If you worship with friends at home, this affects you. When all of the testimony, city code and violation notices have been read, it is obvious that we were simply worshipping with friends. Also, the City has NEVER cited anyone else, despite other ministers advertise their home as a church, have as many or more people weekly rather than 6 times a year and have no church location where they invite the public. In short, there is nothing that we have done that made our residence turn into a church building, yet were cited. Why? Because our religion did not fall into the traditional mold. This comes out clearly when the statements of the distant neighbors are read. Also, the neighbors on each side of us did not complain and even testified for us!
The point is this: If we cannot have friends over to worship but people of other faiths can, then there IS NO freedom of religion! The Federal government does not have to send out the US Army to stop worship, after all. That can be done on the local level. If you are Native American, Neopagan, Islamic or Jewish, your religion may not have a church in which to practice.
If some local official can say to you, "I don't want you here", he will express it through zoning. If he can do that, then let us not be hypocrites. We should tear our the First Amendment to the Constitution, remove the words on the Statue of Liberty and throw away the words of Lincoln and Jefferson, they mean less than the sands of the sea! But if you believe that this nation must remain strong against the forces of tyranny, then we must have law and rule that protects the average person. Nothing else will have the true meaning of freedom. No words, only actions matter. Each person must stand up for religious freedom!
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), 42 USC 2000bb (01/24/94)
2000bb. Congressional findings and
declaration of purposes.
(a) Findings.
(b) Purposes.
2000bb-1. Free exercise of religion
protected.
(a) In general.
(b) Exception.
(c) Judicial relief.
2000bb-2. Definitions.
2000bb-3. Applicability.
(a) In general.
(b) Rule of construction.
(c) Religious belief unaffected.
2000bb-4. Establishment clause unaffected.
(1) the framers of the Constitution, recognizing free exercise of religion as an unalienable right, secured its protection in the First Amendment to the Constitution;
(2) laws "neutral" toward religion may burden religious exercise as surely as laws intended to interfere with religious exercise;
(3) governments should not substantially burden religious exercise without compelling justification;
(4) in Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990) the Supreme Court virtually eliminated the requirement that the government justify burdens on religious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward religion; and
(5) the compelling interest test as set forth in prior Federal court rulings is a workable test for striking sensible balances between religious liberty and competing prior governmental interests.
(b) Purposes
The purposes of this chapter are -
(1) to restore the compelling interest test as set forth in Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963) and Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972) and to guarantee its application in all cases where free exercise of religion is substantially burdened; and
(2) to provide a claim or defense to persons whose religious exercise is substantially burdened by government.
(a) In general
Government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of
religion even if the burden results from a rule of general
applicability, except as provided in subsection (b) of this
section.
(b) Exception
Government may substantially burden a person's exercise of
religion only if it demonstrates that application of the burden
to the person -
(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and
(2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest.
(c) Judicial relief
A person whose religious exercise has been burdened in violation
of this section may assert that violation as a claim or defense
in a judicial proceeding and obtain appropriate relief against a
government. Standing to assert a claim or defense under this
section shall be governed by the general rules of standing under
article III of the Constitution.
As used in this chapter -
(1) the term "government" includes a branch, department, agency, instrumentality, and official (or other person acting under color of law) of the United States, a State, or a subdivision of a State;
(2) the term "State" includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and each territory and possession of the United States;
(3) the term "demonstrates" means meets the burdens of going forward with the evidence and of persuasion; and
(4) the term "exercise of religion" means the exercise of religion under the First Amendment to the Constitution.
(a) In general
This chapter applies to all Federal and State law, and the
implementation of that law, whether statutory or otherwise, and
whether adopted before or after November 16, 1993.
(b) Rule of construction
Federal statutory law adopted after November 16, 1993, is subject
to this chapter unless such law explicitly excludes such
application by reference to this chapter.
(c) Religious belief unaffected
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize any
government to burden any religious belief.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to affect, interpret, or in any way address that portion of the First Amendment prohibiting laws respecting the establishment of religion (referred to in this section as the "Establishment Clause"). Granting government funding, benefits, or exemptions, to the extent permissible under the Establishment Clause, shall not constitute a violation of this chapter. As used in this section, the term "granting", used with respect to government funding, benefits, or exemptions, does not include the denial of government funding, benefits, or exemptions.
The RFRA was passed after the Supreme Court virtually eliminated the requirement that the government justify burdens on religious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward religion. This happened in Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990). This alarmed many religious leaders and civil rights advocates at the same time because it opened the door to government being able to restrict religious exercise for little reason. The law seeks to remedy this problem by requiring that:
"Government may substantially burden a person's exercise of religion only if it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person -
(1) is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest; and
(2) is the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling governmental interest."
Key to this requirement is the phrase: "compelling governmental interest"
Critical to the impact of RFRA is the definition: "the term "government" includes a branch, department, agency, instrumentality, and official (or other person acting under color of law) of the United States, a State, or a subdivision of a State".
And the statement:
"Judicial relief:
A person whose religious exercise has been burdened in violation
of this section may assert that violation as a claim or defense
in a judicial proceeding and obtain appropriate relief against a
government"
Together, this law provides that monetary damages may be assessed to a government official as a person. As a result, few officials will take steps lightly to restrict someone's rights once a precedence is set. The key is to set that precedent.
The charge is:
"Utilizing property zoned RR-Rural Residential district to
operate a church without applying for and obtaining a special
exception, pursuant to Sec. 25-122(d)(4),Article X. Cha. 25; Sec.
25-81, Article VIII, Cha. 25 and Sec. 25-161,25-162, and
25-164(a)(1) thru 4 inclusive, Article XI, Cha. 25."
These relate to a requirement for a variance to have a church in the residential zone in which we live. The word "church", however, refers to a building only. It does not mean the congregation, the ministers of a church or to their residence. Section 25.41 of the Palm Bay zoning code defines a Church as:
"A building or structure or group of buildings or structures which by design and construction are primarily intended for the conducting of organized religious services and customary accessory uses excluding general education facilities."
The Code Enforcement Board Ruled:
"This CAUSE came on for public hearing before the Board on
OCTOBER 12, 1994, OCTOBER 31, 1994 AND NOVEMBER 21, 1994 after
due notice to the Respondent, and the Board having heard
testimony under oath, received evidence, and heard argument of
counsel (if any), thereupon issues its Findings of Fact,
Conclusions of Law, and Order as follows:
I. FINDINGS OF FACT
1. That there is not a violation based on the fact that the
address located at 2027 Mattison Drive NE is not primarily being
used for organized religious services as defined by Section
25-41. In support of that (1) there is evidence on the record
that there is a commercial site located in Melbourne which is
being primarily used for church and religious activity, (2) the
testimony relating to four to six events per year at the 2027
Mattison Drive address does not constitute primary use for
religious activity, and (3) that the use of a forge three or four
times per year does not constitute religious activity, on Lot 13,
Block B, Tropicana Subdivision #75, Section 22, Township 28,
Range 37, Brevard County, Florida.
II. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
Based upon the testimony heard and the evidence presented, the
Code Enforcement Board concludes that there is not a violation of
Section 25-81, Article VIII, Chapter 25; Section 25-122(d)(4),
Article X, Chapter 25; and Section 25-161, 15-162 and 25-164(a)(1
thru 4) inclusive, Article XI, Chapter 25, Code of Ordinances of
the City of Palm Bay on the above described property."
The Church of Iron Oak, ATC
Box 060672, Palm Bay, FL 32906-0672
Phone: (407) 722-0291
Fax: (407) 724-9693
Tax info: GEN 4145 EIN 59-3145874
Our lawyer and holder of escrow account:
Burton Green, Fla Bar #199389
43 South Atlantic Ave
Cocoa Beach, 32931
Phone: (407) 784-4957
Fax: (407) 799-1906
Case:
United States District Court
Middle District of Florida, Orlando Division
Judge Anne Conway presiding
Case number: 94-1043-CIV-ORL-22