Viewing Rosemary Kooiman’s recent death notice gave inspiration to comment about religious freedom in relation to Thomas Jefferson’s Act for the establishment of religious freedom. Frequently religious freedom is overlooked for more “hot-button” issues; however, the struggle for true freedom is ongoing.

Rosemary Kooiman was a self-described witch, practicing a nature-based religion. Practicing a Pagan way of life, or a more focused, polytheistic nature-based way of life, has been shunned by the average population. As with any culture, majorities and minorities are going to develop; Paganism is still considered a minority in the world of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Jefferson initially envisioned the United States to enjoy the religious freedom in which “our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions.” [Somerville and Santoni 247] While the United States is arguably a country where one can freely practice any religion, civil blockades are still in place.

Rosemary Kooiman was a modest pioneer who was a retired government worker and the high priestess of a neopagan group. In 1998, she attempted to secure a Virginia clergy license in order to marry a couple, yet was denied the license from a Fairfax county judge. Her subsequent efforts resulted in a denial from an Alexandria judge. Kooiman then received legal assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union and was successful in receiving her license from the Norfolk Circuit Court. Kooiman’s persistence paid off, for the Fairfax County court and the Alexandria court denied her request because her branch of Paganism, Wicca, did not qualify as a religious organization. [washingtonpost.com]

With her license, Kooiman could then perform weddings anywhere in Virginia. Her fight was not about diverting around the system, but more about the establishment of the legitimacy of Pagan religions. Jefferson’s Act believed it to be sinful and tyrannical to force any man to support opinions which he disbelieves or to believe a teacher of his own religious persuasion. These would be an infringement of the “comfortable liberties” of giving his contributions to a particular pastor whose morals the individual would agree with. [Somerville and Santoni 247]

Kooiman’s husband, Abe, died in 2002 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Rosemary had been recently working to obtain a Pagan headstone as part of a campaign to persuade the Pentagon to add the pagan pentacle to a list of symbols available for Arlington Cemetery headstones [washingtonpost.com]

Religious persecution still persists, while it may not take the shape or severity of racial or sexual persecution in United States history. It is encouraging to see the efforts of one woman to win the right to perform in the religious arena just like every other clergy. The fight for freedoms must not go down the slippery slope path, but truly the simple freedoms that some religions enjoy must be dispersed to every religion and those freedoms cannot be denied due to the label of an “invalid” religion.

Rosemary Kooiman; Championed Witches' Rights

By Joe Holley

Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, March 10, 2006; Page B07

Rosemary Kooiman, 77, a self-described witch who won the legal right to perform neopagan weddings in Virginia, died March 5 of a heart attack at her home in Laurel. She was a former Mitchellville resident.

Mrs. Kooiman, a retired government worker and the high priestess of a neopagan group in Mitchellville called the Nomadic Chantry of the Gramarye, sought to marry a Virginia couple in 1998 but was denied a clergy license after a Fairfax County judge ruled that Wicca did not qualify as a religious organization. A judge in Alexandria also denied her a license.

With assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union, she applied for the same license in Norfolk Circuit Court and received it by mail in September 1998, allowing her to officiate at weddings -- known as "handfastings" among neopagans -- anywhere in Virginia. She also performed wedding ceremonies in Maryland and Pennsylvania, which do not require clergy to have a license, and was licensed to conduct weddings in the District.

Rosemary Jeanette Kooiman was born in Grand Rapids, Mich. After attending college in Michigan, she became a ballet dancer in the Detroit area and operated a dance studio from 1947 to 1953. Her husband was a safety engineer, and the family moved frequently throughout Michigan. Mrs. Kooiman worked primarily as a homemaker and a bartender when the family was living in Muskegon, Mich. As her daughter noted, finding a job tending bar was easier than starting a new dance studio.

In the 1960s, she moved with her family to Houston, where she worked for General Electric, testing space suits for leaks at NASA. She also shook out moon dust from wrinkles in the suits.

The family moved back to Michigan, then, in the 1970s, to the Washington area, where Mrs. Kooiman worked as a safety and health officer for the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Department of Agriculture and the Forest Service. She retired in 1994.

She became involved in neopagan religious practices in Michigan in the 1970s, because she could not find a Christian group that met her needs. Through anthropology courses at a community college and two trips to Mexico, she became acquainted with paganism, which is rooted in nature and encompasses a range of polytheistic traditions, including druidism and Wicca. She turned her back on Christianity's Father God and embraced paganism's Mother Earth, she explained in later years.

When she moved to the Washington area, she and her husband founded the Nomadic Chantry of the Gramarye, primarily to give comfort and support to people involved in the Sports Car Club of America. Today, the Chantry has about 50 members. The Kooimans, car enthusiasts, were active SCCA members and spent most weekends at area tracks, where they helped out with SCCA events and held neopagan circles and celebrations.

Mrs. Kooiman was a member of Mensa, a group that celebrates high intelligence. She compiled a syllabus for a three-year course of study on neopagan beliefs in response to questions from fellow members. She also began teaching classes and holding full-moon circles and celebrations at her Mitchellville home.

Her husband, Abe Kooiman, died in 2002, and recently she had been working to get a pagan headstone for his grave in Arlington National Cemetery. Her effort was part of a campaign by pagan religious leaders to persuade the Pentagon to add the pagan pentacle to the list of symbols approved for Arlington headstones.

Survivors include three children, Kathleen Egbert of Laurel, Micaela Kooiman of Laurel and Dirk Jon Kooiman of Fredericksburg; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

Holley, Joe. “Rosemary Kooiman; Championed Witches’ Rights.” Washington Post 10 March 2006. 27 March 2006 <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/09/AR2006030902425.html>

Sommerville and Santoni, John, and Ronald E Santoni. Social and Political Philosophy. New York:Anchor Books, 1963

Vincent Yee

Philosophy Social Commentary #2

Spring 2006