Couple Ordered to Stop Holding Bible Study at Home

Fox News ^ | 28 May 2009 | Unattributed

[pepperdog]

Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a bible study....

[pepperdog]

I guess I can believe anything these days. This is totally disgusting.

[VaBthang4]

Oh gosh it is not that deep. Sue the city/county and get on with life.

[Wonder Warthog]

But “Koran study” would be OK. Or Satanism.

[Abathar]

Will the ACLU step in and help these people like they would if it was a homoerotic study group?

I didn’t think so either.

[Red in Blue PA]

But “Koran study” would be OK. Or Satanism.

I see you've got the new script.

[americanophile]

They’re going to sue the hell out of the county and rightly so - a flagrant violation of Free Exercise.

[Jeff Chandler]

The article indicates that the group averages 15 people. If they only meet once a week, then they are being somewhat inconsiderate of their neighbors, but surely the county is over reacting.

If the meetings occur more than once a week, then the county has good reason to put a stop to the zoning violation.

[freespirited]

They should call it a book club.

Or are these lefties going to insist that the Bible isn’t a book?

[Kackikat]

It must be one of those “homeowner association votes” on who can do what in their own home, so may be a sticky-wicky.

[Still Thinking]

Tell them you’re having orgies followed by invocations to Ma Gaia and a Global Warming Primer. All will be swell.

[Hacklehead]

I suppose if they had a hundred people coming to their house several times a week this would make sense.

[Huskrrrr]

Of course a quick law suit would clear this up. But the fact that the government is trying to erode religious freedom of Christians is disturbing. Someday we may not win the law suit.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Ignore the "ban", hold the Bible study anywise, and let the county decide if it really wants all the negative publicity that will come with sending in the SWAT team to drag people out of a private home and arresting them for holding a Bible study.

If the county does, publicise it far and wide, and sue them for infringement of religious freedoms under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.

[KarlInOhio]

Are they having a couple of people over once a week, or has it turned into a twenty person, three day a week Bible study causing parking headaches in the neighborhood.

If it is the second, maybe the pastor can use a room in his church for it.

[cuz_it_aint_their_money]

Then by the county's own ruling, any family saying grace before a meal, in their own home is guilty of conducting a "religious assembly".
By the same token, any two or more ragheads praying to mecca on their own property are also guilty of conducting a "religious assembly".

[napscoordinator]

There must be more to the story. First of all who called? Who complained? The neighbors do not know what is going on in the home (unless invited). Someone at the Bible Study probably got “pissed” off at the group and called (someone). Were they taking donations? Too many questions unanswered. If this is the straight story then it is tragic, but as we know nothing is ever exactly as a newpaper article claims. The story has no “guts”.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

If the meetings occur more than once a week, then the county has good reason to put a stop to the zoning violation.

I'm assuming that you're only putting on and trying to mockingly sound as if you were a complete lunatic, but on the off chance that you're not, exactly what "zoning violation" do you think is being violated by a private homeowning citizen having friends over to their house? And how does it differ from, hypothetically, these peoples' next-door neighbours having a couple of dozen people over for a Halloween party?

[VaBthang4]

It has been like this for the last 15 years. It is only going to get worse. Call Thomas More and crack’em in the jaw. Next target.

[DoughtyOne]

I believe the problem is related to parking. If you have ten to fifteen people show up on a regular basis, the neighbors are bound to get annoyed sooner or later.

There are First and Fourth Amendment rights at issue here. People have freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. The problem as I see it though, is one of using good judgment.

If fifteen people are showing up, it’s probably safe to say eight to ten cars are being parked out front.

It would be far better if the meetings could be rotated at different homes. It would reduce the impact on one neighborhood. And if ten to fifteen people are showing up, perhaps it would be better to hold it at one of the small rooms at the church. This guy is the pastor after all.

I’m sure these are good people, and I wish them well. I still think sometimes well meaning people can do things that bother others, and I think they should be understanding of that.

If one of our neighbors had eight to ten cars out front of our homes once per week, I wouldn’t particularly like it. If it was once every other month, I couldn’t care less.

[Kackikat]

Oh contrar, it’s some ‘city official wanting them to get a permit’ ...and 80% of churches in America have home bible studies now...it’s absurd, and against First Amendment rights. How ridiculous we have become.

Hypothetical: OKAY, I say CA is no longer a sovreign state if they take Bailout money, and therefore have no Sen or Reps in Congress, and have been reduced to a territory and therefore have no right to incorporate any cities or towns, so every law made in every jurisdiction of CA is bogus. Now Mexico owns CA, and it’s someone else’s problem.