Suit Challenges Ban On Fortune Telling As Anti-Pagan

In Baton Rouge, Louisiana on Tuesday, a local business that wants to offer fortune telling has filed a federal lawsuit challenging on constitutional grounds a Livingston Parish ordinance that prohibits it. KATC News reports that Gryphon's Nest Gifts Inc. filed suit alleging in part that the ban on "soothsaying, fortune telling, palm reading, clairvoyance, crystal ball gazing, mind reading, card reading and the like for money or other consideration" was an attempt to promote Christianity over paganism. The complaint alleges that the ban "primarily affects pagan leaders and pagan church members who are most likely to support themselves or increase their income by performing divination for consideration." The suit also raises vagueness and free speech claims.