Mark Mullins is a Tarot card reader in Richlands, Virginia and he wanted to open up a business called Mountain Magic & Tarot Reading
The ACLU of Virginia has filed a federal lawsuit against the Town of Richlands in southwest Virginia for violating his free speech and religious freedom rights because he is banned from reading tarot cards as part of his business.
Mullins says town officials blocked him from opening up his business in part due to outcry from Christians in the community who didn’t want his “witchcraft” to open up some “demonic realm.”
Some said they feared for their family’s safety if the town permitted the practice to go on inside the store. Others argued the practice would open up “demonic realms” which young children would be subjected to.
Others said they feared a failure to prevent the change would go against them on judgment day.
“I don’t really want my children thinking that’s OK if they go in there and they get confused and don’t know what something is,” one woman said, adding, “If we open that up in this area and we’re letting people go into this, will their blood be required of our hands?”
Starting in June 2017, the town repeatedly rejected Mr. Mullins’ attempts to obtain a business license, at first they said he needed to request an amendment to the town’s zoning ordinance. When Mr. Mullins made that request, the town held a public hearing in February 2018.
At this very vocal somewhat out of control hearing, local residents and church leaders cited biblical scripture and warned that tarot reading is “evil” and “witchcraft” that would “open things up in this area to the demonic realm.”
Speakers also told officials they would suffer spiritual consequences if they allowed fortune-telling in Richlands. The lawsuit contends the town declined to amend the zoning ordinance to permit tarot reading based on townspeople’s hostility toward the practice of tarot, discriminating against the content of Mr. Mullins’ speech.
The Town Manager suggested he open up a “bookstore” instead… but then he couldn’t advertise the Tarot readings or use the word on his storefront sign.
He eventually opened up the business as a “bookstore giftshop” and forbidden to sell Tarot readings, he offered them for free.
But that only invited more town wrath.
On October 9, 2017, then-Richlands Police Department Chief, Defendant Frank Dorton, visited Mountain Magic and wanted to know if Mr. Mullins had been offering Tarot readings. Mr. Mullins said that he had been doing Tarot readings for free. Defendant Dorton told Mr. Mullins that it was illegal to conduct Tarot readings whether free or not, and that he could be fined and/or charged with a misdemeanor if he didn’t stop immediately.
Mr. Mullins was told he could offer Tarot readings for free on the sidewalk outside the store, but not anywhere within the business.
The sidewalk readings didn’t work, and at a Town Council meeting, Christians spoke out against Mullins’ business entirely. They did it again when Mullins asked local officials to amend the zoning ordinance to permit fortune telling as an acceptable business. (The lawsuit notes that the “official minutes of the meeting omit all of these comments.”)
Mullins is now saying all of this is a violation of his First Amendment rights, a “substantial burden on religious exercise,” and a violation of the Virginia Religious Freedom Act.
It doesn’t take much to understand that what the town is doing here is illegal and ridiculous. It’s modern day Witch Trial hysterics, with a big dose of arrogant supremacy that is totally unacceptable. We wish Mullins all the best with his lawsuit and the ACLU has every reason to think they’ll win the case.
