Arizona man in jail for hosting Bible Study in the PRIVACY OF HIS OWN HOME!

There we go....

 

that's the truth of it.

 

please define "turning home into a church"

 

getting out of paying taxes by claiming your property is a church? can we all do that?

heck I have no problem calling my house a church...


.

 

what if it were a bridge club ? would it be restricted ?

 

can you recite the law that was broken ?

 

Or a medical Marijuana club?

 

If "donations" were being collected, probably so...

 

or a mosque, or any other kinda business really

 

he should called it a yacht and docked it in connecticutt.

 

Wow, there are some dense people in here. Just proves Dawkins and Hitchens point on the matter. If you can get people to believe religion, they will believe anything. If you tell them religion is being attacked, they will believe it. No matter how much you try to rationalize with them that their religion in this case was attacking a peacefull neighborhood.

 

That's the overall mentality of most Christians in the U.S. They have all the rights, and you only get rights if they let you have them. Additionally, they are above the law.

 

I would bet a neighbor got stuck out one too many times w/o a place to park.

 

1. People should not be jailed for non-violent offenses, particularly those that border on civil
2. He should have a (*)(*)(*)(*)load of fines...

Personal story...my neighbors pulled this crap, too. They decided to create a church in their home. It wasn't the noise so much, although that was annoying, it was the inability to get my vehicle out because they had double parked the street to death. Emergency vehicles could not have gotten through and I surely couldn't get out. I missed Mass one week because they decided to have church in their home, so my freedom of religion was violated...which sucked.

 

Uhhh, no. Most people are normal. Some people do a lot of annoying (*)(*)(*)(*).

 

The laws broken are stated in the article. He broke zoning laws.

 

Haha... how funny is it to see liberals agreeing that he broke the law in this thread and gets what he deserves, but in the black guy getting tazed thread it is okay to break the law and the cops are wrong. Ah... I love forums.

On that note... I think he did break the rules of where he lived. Its unfortunate that such a rule exists, but you should know that kind of stuff before you decide where to live. It's the guys own fault for being a moron and like everyone else, intentionally pushing someones buttons to see what you can get away with.

 

More proof there is no freedom in the evil and tyrannical USA.

Another case where law makers create law probably in good conscience and it is grossly enforced violating liberties which law makers didn't realize would be violated... Such as the fence law to protect children which was used as a pretext for manslaughter charges instead of "accident" when a man's fence failed.

This is really a horrible country. Apparently you never checked to discover you do not have the freedoms, liberties, or fair market entrepreneurialism you've been touting which ONCE at one time you had, and one time made your country great.

When will you wake up and realize: ***It's no longer a great country!***

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/homeowner-jailed-for-hosting-bible-study.html

Homeowner Jailed for Hosting Bible Study

By Todd Starnes

A Phoenix man who violated city zoning laws by hosting a Bible study in the privacy of his home has started serving a 60-day jail sentence for his crimes. Michael Salman was found guilty in the City of Phoenix Court of 67 code violations. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail along with three years of probation and a $12,180 fine. A spokesperson for the city attorney confirmed that Salman reported to a county jail Monday afternoon.

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Members of Salman’s Bible study group posted video of their teacher as he self-reported to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. It was an emotional scene. “We believe that people should not be prohibiting other people from having Bible studies in their homes,” Salman said outside the jail. “We believe what they are doing is wrong. It’s private property. It’s our home.” Salman embraced some of his Bible study members before offering final remarks.

“At the very end, after all is said and done, God will ultimately have glory in this,” he said. “We do this for the glory of the Lord.” Someone off camera could be heard remarking, “I love you, pastor.” Salman’s incarceration is the result of a long-running feud between the ordained pastor and the city of Phoenix over weekly Bible studies that Salman and his wife hosted in their home. City officials determined that the weekly gatherings constituted a church – and therefore violated a number of code regulations.

The controversy erupted in 2009 when nearly a dozen police officers raided the Salman’s home and a 2,000 square foot building in their backyard. The family had moved their Bible study into the building after the group outgrew their living room. The charges that sent Salman to jail were a result of that raid – ranging from not posting exit lights above their doors – to not having handicap ramps or handicap parking.

Salman told Fox News Radio the attacks on his family were nothing more than a crackdown on religious liberty. “They’re attacking what I – as a Christian – do in the privacy of my home,” he said. “At what point does the government have the right to state that you cannot have family and friends over at your home three times a week?” But city officials said it was a matter of zoning and proper permitting (*)– not religious freedom. They said he was given a permit to convert a garage into a game room – not a church.

“Any other occupancy or use – business, commercial, assembly, church, etc. is expressly prohibited pursuant to the city of Phoenix building code and ordinances,” said Vicki Hill, the chief assistant city prosecutor. The irony of that rule was not lost on Salman.


The Salman Family

“If I had people coming to my home on a regular basis for poker night or Monday Night Football, it would be permitted,” he said. “But when someone says to us we are not allowed to gather because of religious purposes – that is when you have discrimination.” Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council said the attack against Salman should serve as a wake-up call to Christians across the nation.

“Any time religious freedom or the freedom of speech is infringed upon, Americans should be concerned,” Perkins told Fox News Radio. “We are seeing jurisdictions using zoning ordinances to crack down the exercise of religious freedom.” Perkins said there is a movement in recent years for churches to move back to an Early Church model where Christians met in private homes – rather than church facilities. As a result, he said some communities are in fact cracking down on what people do in the privacy of their homes.

“We’re seeing more Bible studies, home-based churches, small groups meeting together,” he said. “and people are not able to do with their own property that which is an exercise of their religious freedom.” Perkins also took issue with the city of Phoenix deciding what constituted a church.

“The definition is nebulous,” he said. “A family of more than eight people who gather for prayer could meet the definition of a church.” “It goes back to religious freedom,” Perkins said. “As long as it’s not posing a threat or a nuisance to the surrounding property owners, people should be free to do with their property as they see fit.”

NOT IN THE TYRANNICAL AND EVIL USA.

 

That's life in Communist America where some Commissar can tell you what you can do on "your property".

We've been a Communist country ever since Lincoln and Marx pulled off their successful Communist Revolution of 1861.

 

It is worse than what you described.

In Communist Russia they have the decency to tell you that you have no property.

In Communist America they claim you have property when in fact you don't.

 

was the bible study loud or in ways bothering the neighborhood???

 

yea they were singing hyms too loud

 

really, where did it say that in the article??? i seriously must have missed it.

 

So you agree what the city is doing is wrong, regardless of what they are doing on their own private property as long as it's not criminal?

 

The city was protecting the rights of the rest of the neighborhood. So no, the city was not wrong, the man was.