Town bans pagan temple after finding out its not Christian

[struggle4progress]

56. It will be interesting to hear what you learn

I'm not a lawyer but it might depend on whether he's trying to use part of his property for church services, for a home business, or as a retail outlet

"Pagan Temple and Store" doesn't immediately suggest that the primary purpose is religious; the link on his website to Temple leads to a site search engine with "sort by price" options; and the link to Services, rather than informing about religious service times, leads to a page offering fee-based "personal, marrage or family" Counseling, House Cleansing "from unwanted spirits", Tarot Reading, and Water Witching. The link on his website to Teachings leads to a page I found completely uniformative: it seems dashed out rather quickly, and contains a fair quantity of such anodyne pablum as "We must work to seek out teachers" -- and it doesn't do much to explain the Temple's apparent interest in yoga or why their store sells Buddha statues

If he wants to claim a religious or nonprofit exemption for his sales activities, he might have to show the sales are to people whose primary object is to donate to the Temple, or the primary object of the sales is to provide Temple members with objects (such as bat's blood and graveyard dirt) necessary to their religious practice, or that the sales are irregular; if he runs a for-profit business under the guise of a church gift-shop, I'd expect he'll eventually be shutdown

I wouldn't expect him to have many problems if he simply wants to run an internet-based mail-order pagan-supply company from his home. On the other hand, if he wants to turn a building on his property into a retail outlet, with signage and parking, where people can shop for pagan-themed bumperstickers, clothing, jewelry, CDs, andmugs, then zoning is a legitimate consideration. I don't know how zoning works in Beebe. Where I live, people are free to seek a zoning variance or a change in zoning for a property: IIRC this requires some notices published in a local paper and then a public hearing at one of the usual scheduled meetings of the council or commission; and anyone can signup to speak on the proposal

I can't understand why he insists on "Temple and Store" unless he's hoping to run a for-profit business under the guise of a non-profit religious organization. Much of what he offers -- say, Go green with this tote bag, great for shopping, going to the gym, yoga class, or taking wherever you travel -- seems not to be necessary to a religious practice. The home page says Seekers Temple can provide the items shown in appreciation for your donations, but the pricing seems roughly retail, and there's a shipping charge. Nonprofits, that I've worked with, have sometimes offered gifts ("For a $50 donation, we'll send you a free durable-mesh reusable grocery bag&quot , but the gift is always slight compared to the donation and clearly shows the primary object of the exchange is donation to the organization