Man Facing Jail For Hosting Home Bible Study

Chip—Did you read the article? There is no way the government is abusing this guy. Unless this article is absolutely untrue from beginning to end, he is the one abusing the system. Trust me, I’ve seen government abuse of zoning and building codes and this isn’t anywhere close to that. Per the article, they’ve been trying to bend the rules to accomodate him to the detriment and displeasure of his neighbors.

Alright, I missed the article Larry linked to the first time read his post, but I just went back and read the longer story. It presents a different set of facts than the original article, and it is clear that Salman is leading an organized church. Some thoughts:

1. I retract the abuse of power charge against the city. The city has not arbitrarily labeled a group of people as a church - which was my main contention from the beginning.

2. The city’s opposition came against trying to occupy an uncompleted shell building, not in having the church meet on the property. He has not received any warnings or citations that I could see in the story for having a group meet in the house, only to stop using the shell building, which is fully legal and morally acceptable.

3. I wouldn’t characterize the city’s actions as trying to bend the rules to accomodate Salman. The proposal he is wanting to implement is well within legal guidelines, and the city is simply following the present federal guidelines for churches building in residential areas.

3. Salman could/should have handled the situation with his neighbors in a much more Godly manner.

4. Even if he had handled the matter better, it seems the neighbors would not have accepted the proposed plan, which is well within legal and moral boundaries. Salman would not have been wrong to pursue his proposal, in a Godly manner, even if all the neighbors had been still been opposed.

So, I stand corrected. Thanks for the link to the extended story Larry. Sorry I missed it the first time, but it certainly helped clarify the matter.

I appreciate your points. Also, I can certainly understand where you originally came from because our headlines here made it sound as though this was a religious freedom issue. It was only after I listened to the full piece did I understand that this wasn’t a religious freedom issue. When I first heard about it, I assumed it was in California because my memory tells me I’ve heard of these kind of issues regarding the prohibiting of home Bible studies in California.

I’m sure we’re in for a lot of this kind of thing if our country doesn’t change quickly.

Interesting post which I did not see directly linked in this thread:

http://phoenix.gov/news/071212salmanfacts.html