From WorldNetDaily
http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=98895
FAITH UNDER FIRE
Home: No place for Bible study
County Demands Pastor Obtain $10,000 Permit to Host Friends
By Drew Zahn
© 2009
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.”
Dean Broyles of the Western Center for Law & Policy, which has been retained to represent the couple, told WND the county’s action not only violates religious land-use laws but also assaults both the First Amendment’s freedom of assembly and freedom of religion.
“The First Amendment, in part, reads, ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’” Broyles said. “And that’s the key part: ‘prohibiting the free exercise.’ We believe this is a substantial government burden on the free exercise of religion.”
He continued, “If one’s home is one’s castle, certainly you would the think the free exercise of religion, of all places, could occur in the home.”
Broyles confirmed the county official followed through on his threat. The pastor and his wife received a written warning ordering the couple to “cease/stop religious assembly on parcel or obtain a major use permit.”
“The Western Center for Law and Policy is troubled by this draconian move to suppress home Bible studies,” said the law center in a statement. “If the current trends in our nation continue, churches may be forced underground. If that happens, believers will once again be forced to meet in homes. If homes are already closed by the government to assembly and worship, where then will Christians meet?”
On a personal note, Broyles added, “I’ve been leading Bible studies in my home for 13 years in San Diego County, and I personally believe that home fellowship Bible studies are the past and future of the church. … If you look at China, the church grew from home Bible studies. I’m deeply concerned that if in the U.S. we are not able to meet in our homes and freely practice our religion, then we may be worse off than China.”
Broyles also explained to WND that oppressive governments, such as communist China or Nazi Germany, worked to repress home fellowships, labeling them the “underground church” or “subversive groups,” legally compelling Christians to meet only in sanctioned, government-controlled “official” churches.
“Therein lies my concern,” Broyles said. “If people can’t practice their religious beliefs in the privacy of their own homes with a few of their friends, that’s an egregious First Amendment violation.”
WND contacted a spokeswoman for San Diego County, who acknowledged the description of the incident seemed “bizarre,” but who was unable to locate the details of the account. She simply could not provide comment yet, she said, until she could become familiar with the case.
Broyles said the WCLP is nearly ready to file a demand letter with the county to release the pastor and his wife from the requirement to obtain the expensive permit. If the county refuses, Broyles said, the WCLP will consider a lawsuit in federal court.
Broyles also told WND the pastor and his wife are continuing to hold the Bible study in their home.
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What the hell does a Deist do with this?
Well as an American and a staunch supporter if the Constitution, if I support the separation of Church and State, than logically, I would support the Feeedom of Religion and I do.
I despise orgnized religion, however I would not want the Government to have the power to decide any matter that is clearly a personal choice. Don’t get me wrong. I would laugh my ass of if Religion was outlawed. But what comes next? All other aspects of personal freedom would be vulnerable to the Government meddeling. Free speech, freedom of expression, freedom to move where and when you chose, numerous peronal freedoms would be threatened. So, in a way, it’s a small sacrafice to let religons exist. Besides, without religion, what would be left for me to ridicule?
Another Deist, quite a bit more notable and eloquent than I, perhap the individual I admire most, Thomas Jefferson said it best:
“In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own.”
-Thomas Jefferson, letter to Horatio G. Spafford, March 17, 1814.
He is also alleged to have said, “It’s not Christianity I oppose, it’s the tyranny it brings its subjects” I am likely quoting this alleged quote incorrectly, but you get the idea. I know, it’s probably on the net, so look it up. Who says I have to do all the work?
But if you want to have friends over and study the Bible, Mad Magazine or The Writings of Chairman Mao, than you have every right.
However, there are a few issues and details about this story that should be pointed out. First, “The World Net Daily” is not exactly unbiased. It is a very conservative, right wing and pro religious. As a side bar, I am a Republican, a Conservative and not religious. I really am fed up with the fuck head religious right trying to control the party.
But if you read the article carefully, you begin to see the problem, the article says:
“She(the wife of the Pastor in question) 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. “
Say, for example a couple decides to have such a Bible study in their home. Say it’s the couple and ten friends. If this was my neighborhood, it would cause a parking problem, because on my street there really is no street parking and my driveway is small. 5, 7 or so cars, every Tuesday would cause a problem with both me and the neighbors.
The article does not say how many persons attended this Bible study, what the parking issues were or what ordinances applied. How would you like it if, every Tuesday when The Mentalist is on, (I love that show) 59 people, after clogging up you street with cars, all started singing “Bringing in the Sheaves”? So, while the on street parking is causing a potential problem for perhaps the Paramedics reaching your house and hoard of religious bone heads are messing with your favorite show.
Do they use a PA System? Boy, that would piss me off. Like I need to hear some religious dope blathering about the Bible or Jesus, shouting Amen or Praise the Lord, while I am I my fat boy recliner watching TV with a cold Corona. What if this bonehead Pastor is trying to start a church on the cheap?
Now that’s just plain bullshit, but that is most likely the actual scenario. Religious assholes are probably not having this little, innocent, quiet Bible Study. I bet they’re breaking the law and deliberately causing some sort of public nuisance, which has brought them attention from the authorities. The World Net Daily, I would suspect, is bending the facts, trying to turn this into some type of crap they are throwing at liberals. This is just the sort of things that Conservatives blame on the Liberal press. Click on the link in the article where it says, Remind the world who’s really in charge with the “Worship GOD, not GOV” magnetic bumper sticker from WND.
Another quote from the article states: “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’?”
I smell embellishment. The only thing here that seems legit is that they asked if they sing, the sound/nuisance issue. As for “do you say amen?” I think Mrs. Unnamed Pastor and/or The World Net Daily, is seriously full of shit on that one. I don’t think either is above stretching the fats. I mean, really, would a government official ask these questions and expect to get away with it? Not likely.
About a year ago, the lady next door had a party, of sorts, Tupperware, whatever. About 25 women attended, including my wife. There were cars all over the place and they were noisy.
If this happened every Tuesday I would be pissed.
So, “The Government” persecuting Christians or is the Pastors Wife and/or The World Net Daily distorting the real situation? Either one is bullshit.
Believe what you want, meet with your friends and discuss/read/study what you want, as long as it does not interfere with the rights of other. I swear, if any of you anyone fucks up my TV time by singing religious hymns, folk songs or Def Leopard, I would call the Cops in a New York minute, if I didn’t flatten all your tires and set fire to your house first.
And to the World Net Daily, shut your fact twisting, religiously biased cyber pie hole.
Posted by isnrblog 