Arizona Pastor Arrested, Jailed for Holding Bible Study in Home; His Wife Says It ‘Defies Logic’
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Bible
study leader Michael Salman is sitting in jail today after his home was
raided earlier this week by more than a dozen Phoenix, Ariz. police
officers and city officials. His offense? The city says people aren’t
allowed to hold private bible studies on their own property.
Salman
was sentenced to 60 days in jail, three years probation and received a
$12,180 fine for “the crime.” His wife Suzanne spoke with
Fox and Friends this morning to express her shock and disbelief at the
entire situation. According to Suzanne, the city told her that her
husband was essentially arrested because the bible study was at a
private house .. and that essentially, it’s a church. Since they weren’t
zoned for church, they were told they were breaking the rules.
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“It
defies logic, honestly. I don’t understand … that something so small
got so large like this,” Suzanne said. “People do it all over the United
States all the time.”
John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute
believes the family is being discriminated against because of their
faith. “The key is the Constitution guarantees the right to freedom to
religion … the right to assemble and talk to each other wherever you
want to be – in public or in your home,” he said. “The thing that I
think is so shocking is that you might expect this in Iran or [some
place] around the world … but happening in the United States, this is so
shocking it’s beyond belief.”
Phoenix City Prosecutor Vicki Hill
said in a statement: “It came down to zoning and proper permitting.
Anytime you are holding a gathering of people continuously as he does,
we ave concerns about people being able to exit the facility properly in
case there is a fire, and that’s really allt his comes down to.”
What
do you make of this case? As Suzanne says in the below interview, is
this different than a regularly meeting Tupperware group or the like?
And if so, how and why?
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Read More: http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/07/11/arizona-pasto...
On the face of it, we need to take at least one deep breath and ask ourselves if maybe this was not some kind of gestapo style raid designed to squash the exercise of free speech. If anything, we would expect quite a lot going awry before the city would risk the kind of histrionics we've come to expect when Christians stub their toes trampling the constitution. It turns out, there's a long list:
Mr. Salman had regular gatherings of up to 80 people. He held services twice a week and collected a tithe at the services.
He held himself out as a being a church through the media (Harvest Christian Church) and claimed a church status for tax exemption purposes on his property.
All houses of worship in the City of Phoenix must conform to the same codes
Due to the regular, reoccurring high vehicular traffic in this quiet residential neighborhood, neighbors repeatedly complained about the public assembly occurring on his property. Because of the multiple, reoccurring complaints, the City investigated the activity and discovered numerous building code violations primarily related to fire safety standards. Once apprised of these violations, the City could be held liable for not enforcing safety code requirements in the event anyone was injured on the p...
On the face of it, we need to take at least one deep breath and ask ourselves if maybe this was not some kind of gestapo style raid designed to squash the exercise of free speech. If anything, we would expect quite a lot going awry before the city would risk the kind of histrionics we've come to expect when Christians stub their toes trampling the constitution. It turns out, there's a long list:
Mr. Salman had regular gatherings of up to 80 people. He held services twice a week and collected a tithe at the services.
He held himself out as a being a church through the media (Harvest Christian Church) and claimed a church status for tax exemption purposes on his property.
All houses of worship in the City of Phoenix must conform to the same codes
Due to the regular, reoccurring high vehicular traffic in this quiet residential neighborhood, neighbors repeatedly complained about the public assembly occurring on his property. Because of the multiple, reoccurring complaints, the City investigated the activity and discovered numerous building code violations primarily related to fire safety standards. Once apprised of these violations, the City could be held liable for not enforcing safety code requirements in the event anyone was injured on the premises.
Prior to commencement of prosecution, Mr. Salman was asked, repeatedly, to comply with the safety codes of the City. He chose to ignore these requests for voluntary compliance prior to the commencement of any proceedings. (My emphasis -- WH)
http://phoenix.gov/news/07121...
Check the facts before going off in the deep end over this story. He is guilty of legitimate civil laws. Plain and simple.
If you are holding services in an area that interferes with the Peace of the Neighborhood you are not contributing to the Peace of God but only drawing attention to yourself.
There are zoning ordinances for a reason. Pedestrian traffic is another issue.