Wiccan priest sues over Livingston soothsaying ordinance
Offline By BOB ANDERSON
Advocate Florida parishes bureau
Published: Jan 3, 2008 - Page: 1B
SPRINGFIELD — A man who describes himself as a Wiccan priest has filed suit against Livingston Parish over its soothsaying ordinance.
Inspiration from the divine transmitted by a Wiccan should be treated legally the same way as a message from God transmitted by a Christian minister, Cliff Eakin said Wednesday.
“To dictate what you can and cannot do in a spiritual sense” violates constitutional rights, he said.
Eakin, who said he is legally a Wiccan minister, said he knows of at least 100 members of his faith residing in Livingston Parish.
Many of them are reluctant to make their beliefs public for fear of persecution, he said.
“No person shall engage in the practices of soothsaying, fortune telling, palm reading, clairvoyance, crystal ball gazing, mind reading, card reading and the like, for money or other consideration,” according to the ordinance the Parish Council approved May 10.
Eakin said that when he owned a metaphysical shop in New Orleans, he usually gave divinations for free.
But he added that he believes Wiccans should be able to seek small contributions for the practice, in much the same way Christian churches receive tithes and offerings.
The suit, filed on behalf of his business — Gryphon’s Nest Gifts Inc., says that the business seeks the right to perform divinations in Livingston Parish for profit.
The suit maintains that the parish ordinance violates the plaintiff’s right to free speech.
“The intent of the Parish Council in passing the ordinance was to promote Christian mythology over paganism,” the suit states.
The suit also asserts that the ordinance is unconstitutionally vague.
“The ordinance leaves only an individual law enforcement officer to determine whether a particular conduct qualifies as ‘and the like,’ ” the suit states.
Attorney James A. Harry filed the suit electronically Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.
The suit asks the court to declare the ordinance unconstitutional, to issue a permanent injunction prohibiting the parish from enforcing the ordinance and to assess damages.
Eakin said he believes people who use fortune telling to steal money should be arrested under laws against fraud.
Parish President Mike Grimmer could not be reached by phone for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Blayne Honeycutt, the attorney who represents the Parish Council, declined to comment about the suit.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/12997792.html?showAll=y&c=y
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. - Seneca
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Freedom of religion, it seems, gets trampled on again. I wonder if anyone who drafted that ordinance has ever actually read the constitution.
If someone wants to waste their money on a fortune telling, let them. It's not like this priest is stealing money, people are willingly giving it to him.
Seems anything that is different is now inherently evil. What a bunch of nitwits.
Your god's silence speaks loud and clear
I see two possible solutions to this, both require equality...
One, the law is struck down and Wiccan truth-seeing is given the same foothold in the community as Christian "divine revealation".
Two, the law is deemed to apply to all people that claim they had spirits tell them the truth or future of a situation and request money as a contribution to their continued spirit consulting, Wiccan and Christian alike. No more fortune tellers reading the cards, or pastors feeling the presence of "Jayzus!"
Honestly, though, it is a stupid law and should be taken out of the books, because legislating in favor of bullshit or against bullshit is still basing a law on bullshit.
The Regular Expressions of Humanistic Jones: Where one software Engineer will show the world that God is nothing more than an undefined pointer.
HumanisticJones, you sure have away with words.
My first reaction was that this is a violation of freedom of religion
My second reaction was that the law does infact make sense from one point of view. Don't let people take advantage of the weakminded and desperate by selling bullshit. It just needs to be expanded to include all religion, not just the ones too small to defend themselves. (This isn't my point of view, I don't think it's the law's purpose to protect people from their own stupidity.)
Finally I read this:
I'd suggest that all fortune telling etc. is fraud. I'm not sure that you can compare this to christian churches since they don't charge for services. They take a collection but it's not a payment for services. If someone chooses to put money into the collection plate they aren't technically paying the minister to tell them that bullshit. The bullshit is provided free.
Maybe the law is just explicit pritection from a specific type of fraud. I guess in that case though it's unneccesary as existing fraud laws should cover it.
Oh, a lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!