Activist Post
The war on home Bible studies and house churches is heating up again. Down in Phoenix, Arizona a man has been sentenced to 60 days in prison and has been fined $12,180 for hosting a Bible study in his home.
Since 2005, Michael Salman and his wife have been hosting gatherings of about 15 or 20 people where they share food, fellowship and discuss the Bible.
Unfortunately, that kind of thing is against the law in Phoenix, Arizona apparently.
At one point, nearly a dozen armed police officers raided their home and "evidence" of their "crimes" was gathered. Michael Salman was found guilty of 67 "code violations", and now he is going to be ripped away from his family and put in prison for two months. In addition, the assistant city prosecutor is asking the court to "revoke his probation and convert it into a 2 1/2 year jail sentence since he continues to hold worship gatherings on his property despite court orders." This kind of case has the potential to have a huge "chilling effect" on home gatherings of all kinds all over the United States.
You may be thinking that you are glad that this man is being put in prison because you aren't a Christian and you don't have any sympathy for Christians.
Well, what if you wanted to hold small gatherings in your home to discuss the U.S. Constitution?
Or what if you wanted to hold small gatherings in your home to play cards or watch football?
The U.S. Constitution guarantees "the right of the people peaceably to assemble", and when the constitutional rights of one person are under attack, it is an attack on all of us.
In America today, we actually do not own our homes and our properties. Instead, we are only allowed to use them in very, very narrowly-defined ways, and if we "rebel" against those rules the control freaks that run things will smack us hard.
A while back I wrote about how control freak bureaucrats all over the country are using "code violations" to force preppers back on to the grid. In some cases, they are even using "code violations" to force preppers completely off of their properties.
They want to run our lives, and if we do not live within the very narrow constraints that they define for us then they will send armed men to raid our homes.
So how did Michael Salman's problems start?
You can probably guess.
His "neighbors" complained about noise and "traffic congestion".
So that is how city officials got involved. We have become a nation of informers and tattlers, and this is another perfect example of that.
Michael Salman did have a big cross and a big sign outside his home, and in this situation that was rather foolish. Perhaps if he had kept a lower profile things would have been different. But it still does not excuse what authorities in Phoenix are doing to him.
People should be able to have small gatherings of friends and family in their own homes. If we can't do that, what do we have left?
And these days, just about everything is illegal in America, so if you want to sick the authorities on your neighbors it is quite easy to do.What is this nation turning into?
The implications of this story are staggering.
Over the past couple of decades, the number of "house churches" in the United States has absolutely exploded as an increasing number of Americans reject the big, institutional churches for one reason or another.
Now we are seeing a backlash against the home church movement.
Are we going to start to see authorities systematically coming after home Bible studies and house churches all over America?
Sadly, we have already seen quite a few examples of this. The following is one example from California....
A Christian couple from Orange County, Calif., were fined earlier this month for holding Bible studies and for what city officials called “a regular gathering of more than three people” in their homes. They have now been told they face a $500 fine if they continue to hold their home Bible study gatherings.Fortunately, authorities in that case have backed off at least for now after immense public pressure.
But this is just the beginning. Bible-believing Christians are now considered to be "outside the mainstream" and are being attacked in unprecedented ways.
For example, the head of Personhood USA (Keith Mason) had his home brutally vandalized after he was featured in a recent Newsweek article. When that article was posted on the website of The Daily Beast, someone left a comment that contained his home address. Unfortunately, some very sick individuals decided to "pay a visit" to the home and hurled a boulder that destroyed the glass in his front door. In addition, they took red spray paint and painted cuss words and red coat hangers on his house and on his sidewalk.
The following is how this attack was described in a recent Newsweek article....
Mason says he was awake at the time of the attack. “I was in the basement, catching a movie and having a beer, to just chill,” Mason says. “I heard a loud noise and thought one of our kids had fallen down the stairs." Mason says he ran upstairs from the basement, then "ran through a bunch of glass" and "saw red." He describes the scene as "surreal—I didn’t know if it was blood on the glass or what. It turned out to be spray paint. There was red paint all over the side of our house. They spray-painted coat-hangers all over my sidewalk and door. We called 911. The police were there within three minutes.”The family has moved from the home and they say that they have no plans to return.
This is what America is turning into.
Hate and anger are rising to unprecedented levels and it seems like psychopaths are running around everywhere.
I truly fear for the future of this nation.
This article first appeared here at the American Dream. Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here.
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17 comments:
What this article fails to mention is that the man was told if he was going to host large gatherings at his home, he had to comply with specific building codes. So he then goes out and builds a large 'church' in his back yard with a building permit granted for a garage renovation. He chose to build that building without proper permits, and the building did not meet building codes. After he refused to stop holding church services in that building is when he was arrested. Write the facts or dont write at all! Your just as bad as the sensationalist main stream news outlets
The guy is violating building codes. Your article misrepresents the facts. He built a 2000 square foot building with seating for 40, with a pulpit and a large cross outside, yet claims it's not a church. On the building permit he claimed that he was expanding a garage into a game room. No one cares if he runs a church, he just has to meet building codes. Stop instigating.
Churches do not have to meet building codes. The 1St Amendment in the U.S. Constitution Says Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
NO LAW MEANS NO LAW!!!
The most outrageous thing about this article is the statement that "Bible-believing Christians", which I take to mean evangelicals and fundamentalists, are oppressed. What a laugh -- they're heavy hitters in politics and are getting their way a lot more than they should. They oppose separation of state, which assures the rest of us of freedom of religious expression, including Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Wiccans -- all those the "Bible-believing Christians" think deserve to be burned at the stake. They are welcome to their views and their practices, but they need to give up their attempt to infiltrate the government, and to get away with violation of all manner of laws by claiming religious freedom. It's a copout, involving moral hypocrisy of a high order.
@frankys.. It's very sad so many are ignorant of the simplest facts of our constition as you just explained in your commentary.
That is awful I just did this broadcast well doin it now I'm broadcasting live on the air! Listen in now at http://tobtr.com/s/3428065. #BlogTalkRadio if you miss it once it is live you can lisen once it archives but something needs to be done that is a outright break in our freedom the only thing next is them coming to our doors and saying Deny Christ or die I mean what has the world came to when one cant do bible study in their home Thats what happens when we have no christian goverment
I have to agree with the commenters here. Leaving out vital facts to the story is instigating and irresponsible sensationalistic reporting. He was arrested for code violations, NOT for holding bible studies in his home or anyother type of thing.
Once you start leaving out vital information, you are doing a dis-service to the reader and the writer. It spreads false information and makes liars out of the readers and hurts the reputation of AP for those who would have considered reading the site for the first time based on word of mouth. Basically losing trust.
Just an FYI - Building Codes are not "laws", they are local/municipal legislation that generally are not enforced by law-enforcement unless the standard building inspectors and others working for the municipality have been unable to deal with an individual violating the codes.
The building codes are there for your own safety, not just to scam you out of money.
I am in the construction industry and I know all too well that if building codes are not respected then a lot of the time people's lives are put at risk by shoddy workmanship and sheer stupidity.
That's all the codes are there for - so that qualified inspectors must see and pass your work for it to be considered 'legal', and fail your work if it is not safe.
Had this back-yard church collapsed on the people attending it would people here be whining then?
I'm sure the guy told them all it was really safe and great, but Lies don't mean much to dead people.
A right to assemble does not mean a right to put other people's lives at risk with stupidity.
What if these were atheists that wanted to gather in their Mom's basement and read comic books and play video games?
Man oh man, the GOP sure know how to rile up their base huh?
@Ken said...
"The guy is violating building codes."
OH NO! Not That!
I bet You also think that you are not "American" if you don't pay your Taxes.
People sure do love the oversight of big government.
His "neighbors" complained about noise and "traffic congestion".
If they were only reading their Bible and discuss about it, nobody would ever know why they are gathering. But now peoples that call themselves "Christian" make disturbance with demonic rock / horrible CCM music that are an abomination before God. If I were their neightbour, I would also make all I can do to stop that noise. These trouble making false christians deserve to be put in jail.
http://www.marcfalcone.com/index_files/Devilinthechurch.htm
@MARK: Music is the only true form of universal human expression. Where does it say in the bible that music is demonic?
I am aware of the argument that building codes are an example of 'Big Brother' excessive oversight but that really is not the case.
The actual building codes are quite minimal in most places that aren't in areas that deal with hurricanes, tornado's or earthquakes regularly, and even some of those special codes are laughable at times.
"Minimum Code" is downright frighteningly unsafe in some cases thanks to major development companies pushing for reduced codes to maximize profit.
The inspectors themselves could be completely privatized if you wanted, but regardless who pays the wages of the inspectors a building that doesn't even meet minimum code requirement in a mostly stable area like Arizona is not going to be anywhere near safe.
I could support the notion of not requiring permits and such for people doing their own construction work for their private residence, but if you are building something that is going to see numerous visitors on a regular basis those people being lured into your structure are your responsibility to keep safe.
Building codes for commercial construction practices should be strengthened if anything, even if you privatize the inspectors that enforce them.
My personal problem with the system is that there are no regulations in most places to actually specify qualifications for inspectors so many of the inspectors around here allow stuff that should not be allowed simply because they have little or no actual prior construction experience, or simply don't care or are encouraged to let things slide by with certain major contractors and such.
I have seen some utter retardation from people building their own structures without permits and inspections and while I have no problem with that if the only person at risk is the idiot who did the work, what about people who potentially purchase the home/buildings later on?
I don't think a full blown police raid was necessary here but I do think this man needs to be held accountable for putting people at risk from shoddy workmanship.
And FYI - the first time you violate building codes all you are required to do is fix your work to bring it up to code. This man clearly did not have any intent to build a safe structure for his numerous attendee's that he is responsible for the safety of.
These guys need to read Richard Wurmbrand's book Tortured For Christ. He gives one an idea of how to operate private house churches in the fascist/communist country the US has become.
Michael Snyder, how about include all the facts next time you write an article. Your just trying to perpetuate the idea of a war on Christianity to your meager minded followers.
Welcome to AmeriKKKa. You don't own anything except with the express approval of the local government, the Federal Government and all the neighbors around your property. Yes, building codes are important, but a "gameroom" structually capable of holding 40 people should be no different than a church. Let people determine the pathes of their own lives. You discrete Fascists and Communists are helping the government limit and shred our freedoms.
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