- Update 6/4/09 - San Diego withdraws Bible study warning
According to 10 News in San Diego:
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. [more . . .]
The Family Research Council comments:
Where
two or more are gathered in Christ's name, there San Diego County
officials will be also. For a suburban California family, this was the
shocking reality during last month's Good Friday holiday. A local
pastor and his wife invited a dozen or so people to their house for a
Bible study, only to be interrupted by a San Diego employee who
threatened to fine the couple for breaking an obscure County land code.
People at Pastor Jones's church are stunned by San Diego's actions, particularly its investigation of the group's activities. According to the family's attorney, Dean Broyles of the Western Center for Law & Policy, the officials asked pointed questions such as, "Do you have a regular meeting in your home?" "Yes." "Do you say amen?" "Yes." "Do you pray?" "Yes." "Do you say, 'Praise the Lord?'" "Yes."
What business is it of the county's how the Joneses' worship? This is not communist China. The Joneses aren't operating an underground church in violation of state law. This is their home! And
like every other
American, they enjoy the freedoms of religion, assembly, and speech
guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Broyles told reporters, "If the
county thinks they can shut down groups of 10 or 15 Christians meeting
in a home, what about people who meet regularly... for poker night?
What about... Tupperware parties?"
Every citizen in the nation
should take this attack seriously. It matters little whether they agree
with the Joneses' beliefs. If we allow the government to take their
rights away, ours are next. Meanwhile, county officials have not budged
on their insistence that a home Bible study of 15 people is a
"religious assembly" that requires a "major use permit," which can cost
upward of $10,000. Obviously, California is so desperate for income
that it's willing to persecute men and women of faith to get a few
pieces of silver.
As Christians from other states have
learned, the government can use inconsequential rules on parking or
zoning to regulate religion. In this instance, the application of those
rules is, as Broyles says, "misplaced." Apparently, the size of
government has grown so much that bureaucrats, like those in San Diego,
are struggling to justify their existence. They have to invent
controversies like this one just to keep busy. With California facing a
budget shortfall, I know just where officials can start cutting
unnecessary spending. 
Fox News: Couple Ordered to Stop Holding Bible Study at Home Without Permit