Couple Ordered to Stop Holding Bible Study at Home Without Permit

[Egon]

I'm not religious, but I do love the constitution. This is an outrage.

Couple Ordered to Stop Holding Bible Study at Home Without Permit - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

Couple: County Trying To Stop Home Bible Studies - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego

[Senoska]

If it's against zoning its against zoning. You can't just run a church/business(that has a lot of traffic)/etc from your house in a residential zoned area. What is there to be outraged about?

edit: Oh right, I forgot. Christians always try to make themselves look persecuted despite having 70% of the majority. God damn I love religious morons.

[oldoldman]

If it's against zoning its against zoning. You can't just run a church/business(that has a lot of traffic)/etc from your house in a residential zoned area. What is there to be outraged about?

They essentially banned a book club, totally against 1st amendment.

[Furtwangler]

I'm not familiar with the laws there but it seems he has a point. What about the people that have regular gatherings for other purposes be it religious or not? old ladies sewing circles etc. Unless this is just about religious gatherings that need a permit which doesn't seem to be very reasonable either. It's not like they have a group of 40ppl in the place all the time its 15 people lol

[Howard Roark]

as much as the article indicated there wasn't a lot of traffic, it said "a few friends"

will they require slumber party permits? I can understand if 10+ cars showed up and created traffic/parking issues, but requiring a permit based on the content of the discussion is asking for trouble especially citing religion specifically


the only way I can see this beng a problem is for more pragmatic reasons like noise violations and road concerns

[MF Perm tha Fineass]

First of all the context of the story comes from Fox News. It's intent is to cause uber-religious conservative outrage. There are many details being left out that don't explain why this happened so I think everyone should hold judgement until then.

If it's 5 people coming over for bible study yes it's fucked. If he has 20+ people coming over on a consistent enough basis it's a zoning violation and impedes the rights of others living in that neighborhood.

"A few friends" is entirely based off of perspective. And knowing Fox News details were altered or made to sound worse off than they really were.

[Neosutra]

Needs more info. How many people? What area? What were they doing.

Ive seen "bible studies" with 50 people lol.

But ya, lolpersecuted majority.

[Senoska]

15 people is a lot for something that happens frequently in someones home. This is in San Diego or near it which means it's safe to assume that they are using the street for parking. This probably caused a lot of problems for the neighbors who complained. It's simply not zoned for that amount of traffic. There are laws regarding this. It has nothing to do with the fact it was a bible study or an orgy party, there was simply too much traffic involved which is illegal.

But that's right. The big mean county government (Which is safe to assume a large portion being christian.) is out to shut down little churches. Damn those secular people violating the constitution!

[Eratosthenes]

Needs more info. How many people? What area? What were they doing.

Ive seen "bible studies" with 50 people lol.

But ya, lolpersecuted majority.

About 15 people in a private home.

I think the county is being ridiculous.

[Furtwangler]

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"

sounds like a 'you're using your house for the wrong reasons pay us money for a permit or piss off'. it specifically said to stop religious assembly if the report is correct which screams 1st amendment problems to me (but what do I know)

edit: although as people have mentioned it is fox news so im sure things have been left/exaggerated out that could change the way the article sounds.

[Senoska]

The fox article is just retarded the other one

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.

15 people is a lot of people.

[quannum]

"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?" Broyles asked.

if the answer to all these other situations are yes, then it's more of a parking/neighbor issue.

an average of 15 people has got to be at least 7 cars if it's all husband + wife and at most 15 if no carpools. thats a lot of cars on what looks like a cul-de-sac on a friday.

If they don't require some sorta zoning permit for re-occurring tupperware parties, then this is a bit silly, I agree.

[Senoska]

It's unfair for the people living in the area to have to put up with someone essentially running a business out of their home with 15 people in one day, at one time, needing to find parking EVERY WEEK.

[Furtwangler]

I'm assuming you're using the business example for the large amount of people factor, because they obviously aren't making any kind of profit and there's no money involved.

[Senoska]

A local pastor

really?

[Howard Roark]

just give the cars parking tickets like any other 7 cars

[MF Perm tha Fineass]

Gonna say by reading between the lines that this "Pastor" is actually holding services in his home. It's not like the country drives around and see's a bunch of cars and calls it religious services zone fees or gtfo.

Why can't they have Bible study at the church he's the Pastor of?

Fox and this dude are lie harder to make an issue of a law that is being broken. Should be fun to watch it all melt down and embarrass them both.

[Senoska]

Lets rewrite this and see how outraged you are.

SAN DIEGO -- A local business man 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 weekly business meetings in their home, 10News reported.

Attorney Dean Broyles of The Western Center For Law & Policy was shocked with what happened to the business man and his wife. Broyles said, "The county asked, 'Do you have a regular meeting in your home?' She said, 'Yes.' 'Do you say synergy?' 'Yes.' 'Do you do work?' 'Yes.' 'Do you say i'm the boss?' 'Yes.'"

http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/ibs.san...ord=123456789? The county employee notified the couple that the small business meetings, 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 business related assembly or apply for a major use permit" -- a process that could cost tens of thousands of dollars."

For business 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 business assembly principles to this work 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 jobs.

Broyles also said this case has broader implications."If the county thinks they can shut down groups of 10 or 15 business men 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?" Broyles asked. Broyles and his clients plan to give the County their demand letter this week.If the County refuses to release the business man and his wife from obtaining the permit, they will consider a lawsuit in federal court.

[Soa]

Most likely scenario is that her Bible study group was taking up all the parking spots and neighbors complained.

The town I live in has parking regulations (parking permits required, no more than 3 cars per home, no more than 2 guests at a time) so its not totally outlandish to think this is the real reason.

[barber2006]

If this were a weekly MENSA meeting peoples opinions would flip flop. Look behind you, your bias is showing.