A Phoenix, Ariz., pastor was jailed for having Bible studies in his home. City spokespeople said the studies were a violation of city codes.
You can read more here.
Hmm. I concur: How would Bible studies be any different from gathering to watch a football game? Or play poker? And thanks, Mike the Heathen, for the link.
If you erected a building on your property to accommodate 145 people to “play poker” or “watch football” the city might be justifiably concerned that the building meet certain safety requirements. Fire sprinklers…emergency exits…that kind of thing.
Patheos: Despite What FOX News Tells You, Michael Salman Is Not Going to Jail for Hosting a Bible Study.
Religious freedom doesn’t mean the freedom to act irresponsibly and put other people at risk.
Also…is the good pastor charging…or collecting donations of any kind…for guiding his flock through the Good Book?
Does his homeowner’s insurance know what he’s doing?
Gasp! leftover… are you suggesting that the good pastor played this up to look as bad as possible, and that Fox News has lied to us??!!?? How could that be??!!???
Preachers “play things up.” It’s what they do.
What I did find slightly suspicious though was this egregious attack on religious freedom happening in probably the most conservative county in Arizona. I figured there had to be an angle being played somewhere. It didn’t take long to ferret one out.
Fox lies?…Are we supposed to count Lies of Omission?
Because those are pretty easy to find and certainly not confined to FOX.
It’s a trend.
Why do so many of these storefront preachers think “freedom of religion” means freedom to ignore the law and do as they damn well please?
Because it’s …. it’s THEIR RELIGION, dammit, and it supercedes all other concerns. Kinda like “we don’t need no stinkin’ badges,” but “we are FREE to do what we want in the name of OUR RELIGION. And if you mess with us, you’re messing with our FREEDOM.”
Government has got to get out of the business of deciding what is a church and what isn’t. No more tax exemptions for church property. No more zoning exemptions just because it’s a “church.”
There is more to this story. I can’t cut and paste links right now.
I did a cursory check, but when you’re able to post links, please do that.
The City of Phoenix really blew it with how they handled this situation. They really did. Their letters kept saying that “bible study” was not allowed in a residence under Phoenix’s ordinances. But that is obviously unconstitutional hogwash.
Salman says the section of the city code cited against him related to a variety of indoor group activities (including but not limited to religious ones), and then goes off about bible study being prohibited.
But the citation had to have been given because of the number of people involved, because the section Salman cites has an explicit exception if the occupancy load is under 50 people. See Salmon’s own video (the one Susan posted for this thread, at about 4:50 into it) where the exception is clearly shown.
Salman (and Faux Snews) want you to believe that he is being persecuted for having bible study in his home with his family and a few friends. He is not. He is being disciplined for having too many people in his house in violation of building and safety codes.
But THAT doesn’t make good press if you are trying to show that Christianity and religion in general are under attack.
Phoenix’s letters made the grievous mistake of not making the occupancy issue (instead of the use issue) crystal clear. Or maybe they did, but Salman isn’t showing those to us.
Leftover got it exactly right in his comment at the top. Salman’s problem hasn’t anything to do with religion or studying the bible. It has to do with high occupancy rates and building codes and public safety.