Home: No place for Bible study

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | May 22, 2009 | Drew Zahn

[Man50D]

A San Diego pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a county official and warned they will face escalating fines if they continue to hold Bible studies in their home.

The couple, whose names are being withheld until a demand letter can be filed on their behalf, told their attorney a county government employee knocked on their door on Good Friday, asking a litany of questions about their Tuesday night Bible studies, which are attended by approximately 15 people.

"Do you have a regular weekly meeting in your home? Do you sing? Do you say 'amen'?" the official reportedly asked. "Do you say, 'Praise the Lord'?"

The pastor's wife answered yes.

She says she was then told, however, that she must stop holding "religious assemblies" until she and her husband obtain a Major Use Permit from the county, a permit that often involves traffic and environmental studies, compliance with parking and sidewalk regulations and costs that top tens of thousands of dollars.

And if they fail to pay for the MUP, the county official reportedly warned, the couple will be charged escalating fines beginning at $100, then $200, $500, $1000, "and then it will get ugly."

[Joe Boucher]

Buddy,
show me a warrant for my arrest, or a court order but until then get the f off MY property or I’ll put you off.

[Evil Slayer]

Wonder what he meant it will get “ugly”? Would that mean rounding them up and putting them on the cattle car and taking them to the showers for cleansing?

[wally_bert]

For some of those types, it would be a dream come true.

[Misterioso]

Buddy, show me a warrant for my arrest, or a court order but until then get the f off MY property or I’ll put you off.

And I'll have you struck dead by lightning. But, seriously, I'm an atheist and I am mortified that such harassment from a government official could be tolerated. Get the ACLU, if needs be.

[AppyPappy]

I smell a homeowners association

[Joe Boucher]

I don’t care if you are having a meeting of the one eyed squid eaters of San Diego county in your home. The local govt. has no business trying to stop you.
You would think these govt. stupids would have ANYTHING better to do.

[MissDairyGoodnessVT]

and probably cars that are taking up residential parking spaces.

[Wife of D]

>I smell a homeowners association>

Or bothered neighbors. It may be that they’re violating some parking rules - if 15 people are showing up is that 10-15 cars parking on a street that may have limited parking?
The article says they have to apply for permits regarding parking and sidewalks.

I don’t know if the whole story is being being told in this article. I don’t think we’re that far along where the gestapo are shutting down churches.

Just my 2 cents. :)

[melsec]

Soon you will have to have a permit to have a few friends around for a BBQ.

These are such little people who have attained a little bit of power and use it in an insane way.

I would have told him to mind his own business and get a real job - it is no business of the Government what you do in your home and to answer their questions is to legitimise their harrassemnt.

Mel

[AppyPappy]

I know several people who consider the street in front of their house to be their property. If anyone parks there, they go nuts.

[Evil Slayer]

Even a HOA would allow you to have a group of cars parked on your driveway and curbs as long as they didn't stay over 24 hours. Also, party as long as it didn't get real loud. I live in a subdivision there we pay $75/year to our HOA and have never had any problems with them. Especially what the so called “county official” did. I tend to believe he was totally out of line and their attorney will eat him alive along with his superiors for allowing this to happen the way it did.

[nathanbedford]

The story implies but does not explicitly state that this gathering is being treated differently because it is a religious gathering.. By reciting the questions asked of the pastor's wife such as "do you say amen" the reader is led to believe that if she just had a bunch of friends over to get drunk every Wednesday night the city of San Diego would tender its benign blessing. If that is the case, the requirement to obtain a permit would be discriminatory and hence contrary to the constitutional right of free exercise of religion.

But I suspect that is not the case. I suspect that the city objects to the assembly of people with regularity for several purposes which might include, for example, Tupperware party sales, because of the disruption to the neighborhood. Reasonable regulations are not unconstitutional intrusions on the right of free exercise of religion when applied across the board. That is because there is no constitutional right to practice a religion if the practice is in violation of reasonable police and welfare powers of the state. In other words, it is not a defense to the violation of laws of polygamy to assert that one is practicing the free exercise of Mormonism. It is not a defense to animal welfare laws that one is practicing kosher slaughter unless that kind of slaughter is approved. It is not a defense to female mutilation that one is a Muslim.

A practical solution is simply to rotate the prayer meetings among the the various penitents' houses so that the meetings at one location such as the pastor's house become so separated in time that they fall into an exclusion of the general rule.

[Slings and Arrows]

I agree re not getting the whole story. This sounds just a bit “too good to be true.”

[chatham]

As an American of some years I find this action by some dumb govt. Hack, hard to believe.

this crap must be stopped.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

No way can this be tolerated! All levels of government are just busting to do away with constitutional limits, it’s got to be stopped!

[Mr. K]

ACLU??? How long have you been here? The ACLU will make sure her neighbors are protected from this evil and illegal act, unless they want to teach the Koran.

Hmmmm now that I think of it.. they should hold a Kran study the next night with the same number of people and see what happens (but better not say “amen” or “praise the lord”)

[WFTR]

Odd story - If the problem is parking and sidewalk use, why do they care whether the people pray or sing? If the problem is fifteen people showing up every week and taking up street space, the whole thing should focus on the space and not the religious nature of the meeting. If the problem is the religious nature of the meeting, then the meeting is none of the government's business. I see a couple of possibilities.

1. The couple is filling the street with cars once a week and creating a nuisance. The person from the enforcement office stupidly asked about the religious nature of the meetings rather than just tell them that they can't tie up the street every Tuesday night.

2. The couple isn't causing a nuisance but some very intolerant neighbor is upset that they are exercising religious freedom. The intolerant neighbor complained. Instead of taking a look at the situation on a Tuesday night, realizing that there wasn't a problem, and telling the intolerant neighbor to quit complaining or be cited for wasting the county's time, some brain-dead bureaucrat decided to harass this couple.

3. The couple is creating a mild nuisance but the problem is still an intolerant neighbor. This neighbor is probably the one who has 20 people to his house every Friday night but still hates the thought of these Tuesday night Bible studies.

[tina07]

‘one eyed squid eaters’..LOL!

[pnh102]

While I suspect there is probably more to this story, it is always safe to presume, until proven otherwise, that the government is always guilty of violating the rights of the people.