Frustrations with the Bible Belt--Town of Richlands

I am going to start with a small background on myself. This is my very first post since my introduction. Clarification-I am agnostic.

I live in the "buckle" of the bible belt. It is a very small town in southwest Virginia. I have personally dealt with religious bias my entire life. I have tattoos, blue hair, used to have piercings, etc. I was in a foster home with a Pentecostal family who wouldn't let me dye my hair, wear dark fingernail polish, and wanted me to be in skirts daily. I have had people come up to me at my place of employment before I was disabled and tell me I was going to hell and was going to die a horrible death because my tattoos have given me "some disease."

Today, I started asking my husband's uncle questions. It's been a decade or so since we had a conversation. The reason I went to his page to ask him is because he is on the town board that makes the zoning regulations for the town. There is a small "magic" shop in town that just opened this year. He carries Wicca, Native American, and general pagan items. The town is restricting them from doing tarot readings and won't give them a business license for tarot, even though said business license does not exist. (they have him in a catch 22--he applied to add tarot to the list like was suggested so he could apply for a license, and the town manager denied him) He has been threatened with violence and honestly believes they are trying to run him out of town. People vandalize his business signs as well.

Read a local news article about the situation HERE.

I became concerned about religious freedom and the town getting hit with a civil suit. The board member believes anyone who doesn't live within town limits has no business making comments about the town. Instead of respectfully answering my questions as fitting his office, he blocked me.

I am currently in talks with the town police office, asking them if they were aware that the ACLU has won a case nearly identical to this in the past. It is taking them 30 minutes to 3 hours to respond to each individual question, but they are at least responding.

While I don't subscribe to any religion, I believe this man is being unjustly targeted. We had a tattoo shop that had similar things happen to him.

I would love to move out of the area, but we cannot afford to do so. My husband has a very sick mother that has MS, and we cannot leave her either. The state of Virginia is a beautiful place to live, I love the scenery. It’s a great temperate climate. I live in the same area as another steemit member, and they have dealt with so many situations of corruption and abuse in my area. Our town was featured in Time magazine in the mid 2000s for the rampant prescription drug abuse here. While I may despise some of the attitudes here, I feel it’s my responsibility to at the very least share and speak up about it. People (and animals) are suffering in Tazewell County, VA. Its extremely frustrating that the same people who scream religious persecution, do not understand how they are doing it themselves.

Do you live in the bible belt and have these experiences?