Telling the Future

The Northern Territory government, of Australia, is about to repeal a centuries-old witchcraft, tarot card law. Predicting the future is, or was, enough for a one year prison sentence.

Religions like Christianity and Islam also forbid telling the future. The future is God's will and he or she can do what they like.

This seems odd when we have meteorological stations for forecasting the weather. Also the aim of science is to explain the universe and predict future events. We are always predicting the future, even when we cross a street and predict that we are far away enough from cars so we will not be hit.

It generally seems that palmistry is OK for religious types when we are not predicting the future but simply reading what we see in hands as a type of psychology and , really, I think this is what it is best at. Knowing the psychology of a person gives us some idea about how they will react in the future.

I wonder how many other countries still have laws forbidding palmistry?

Cheers

Lloyd Hamilton

Hi Lloyd,
Interesting      I read about it on the news this weekend eg
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-17/northern-territory-to-ditch-their-witchcraft-law/4894086

This website collected some info about fortune telling laws: www.fortunetellinglaws.com

example -  palmistry etc is forbidden in certain counties in the US state of North Carolina:

"North Carolina Criminal Code G.S. 14-401.5
It shall be unlawful for any person to practice the arts of phrenology, palmistry, clairvoyance, fortune-telling and other crafts of a similar kind in the counties named herein......
Any person violating any provision of this section shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.......
Penalty for conviction is a fine of up to $500, up to six months in prison, or both."