[b]Couple: County Trying To Stop Home Bible Studies[/b]
CNN/Channel 10 San Diego
28 May 2009

SAN DIEGO -- A local pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a San Diego County official, who then threatened them with escalating fines if they continued to hold bible studies in their home, 10News reported.

Attorney Dean Broyles of The Western Center For Law & Policy was shocked with what happened to the pastor and his wife.

Broyles said, "The county asked, 'Do you have a regular meeting in your home?' She said, 'Yes.' 'Do you say amen?' 'Yes.' 'Do you pray?' 'Yes.' 'Do you say praise the Lord?' 'Yes.'"

The county employee notified the couple that the small bible study, with an average of 15 people attending, was in violation of county regulations, according to Broyles.

Broyles said a few days later the couple received a written warning that listed "unlawful use of land" and told them to "stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit" -- a process that could cost tens of thousands of dollars.

"For churches and religious assemblies there's big parking concerns, there's environmental impact concerns when you have hundreds or thousands of people gathering. But this is a different situation, and we believe that the application of the religious assembly principles to this bible study is certainly misplaced," said Broyles.

News of the case has rapidly spread across Internet blogs and has spurred various reactions.

Broyles said his clients have asked to stay anonymous until they give the county a demand letter that states by enforcing this regulation the county is violating their First Amendment right to freely exercise their religion.

Broyles also said this case has broader implications.

"If the county thinks they can shut down groups of 10 or 15 Christians meeting in a home, what about people who meet regularly at home for poker night? What about people who meet for Tupperware parties? What about people who are meeting to watch baseball games on a regular basis and support the Chargers?" said Broyles.

Broyles and his clients plant to give the county their demand letter this week.

If the county refuses to release the pastor and his wife from obtaining the permit, they will consider a lawsuit in federal court.

Click [url=http://www.10news.com/news/19562217/detail.html]HERE[/url] to read the full article.

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Christopher

this is glorious news!!!!

the devil is outdoing himself!!

I hope this pastor and his wife are praising God for this honor, oh this is too good!

I envious in a Godly way, I say just keep the Bible study up, and let these hellions arrest them.....what glorious footage that would make!

a permit? ha!

that pastor wants to stay anonymous coz he knows that if he says where, 200 saints will show up...lol Praise God, the devil has no conscience and the flesh has no sense.

Natan4Jesus wrote:

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Christiaan

This sounds absolutely ridiculous.

Is there more to the story? I mean how did an official even come to know that they were holding a study seeing it was only 15 people?

Why would the government even care if it was only 15 people?

Thousands of dollars for a permit is outrageous.

If something like this happened what would that mean for other Bible studies. I would think that this is just some wild isolated case, but you never know.

I think that if this passes that the government is playing a little too close of a role in things. I mean don't they have BETTER things to do? Aren't there a whole bunch of problems that they have that they aren't dealing with. Go spend your time on gangs and other things not on Christian who seek to love like Jesus!

I know that a law has already been passed so that you cannot home school unless you have certain credentials and that seems somewhat plausible yet still a little shady. Is the US government going to continue to corrupt and and overpower or what? I heard a pastor from Japan weep once because his little girl had to go to Temple service at school.

Unlawful use of land? It's his house and land! I mean if it were as said hundreds of people and such then maybe, but sheesh these governmental figures aught to receive correction. The government needs governing.

Looks like the dumber get dumber every day...they know no limits.

So why are we surprised? I leave the obvious answer for you ....

ginnyrose

EDIT: on the other hand this ought to teach us a lesson to not answer any question posed by authorities that deal with our private lives..wonder what the legal implications would be to that?

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Sandra Miller

Somewhere else I read that this is possible a possible case of HOA (Home Owner Association) issues. If their home is located in a community 'ruled' by an iron clad home owner association clause then it is a case of buyers remorse. They should have read the fine print on the HOA requirements.

If that is not the case and the local Govt gets away with this, things are preparing to get pretty tough, very quickly.

I certainly do not wish them to be stuck with the HOA situation but it is an option that would buy us all a little more time to get to work.

All of this is just my opinion, anyway.

white stone

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Janice