Phoenix Man gets 2 months prison for hosting worship & Bible Study at His Home.

Run_to_da_hills

A Phoenix man who held weekly Bible studies at his home has had the book thrown at him over the religious gatherings. Michael Salman (pictured above) has been sentenced to two months in jail and more than $12,000 in fines because the group sessions at his home were against the city's building code, Fox News Radio reported.

"They're cracking down on religious activities and religious use," Salman told Fox News Radio. "They're attacking what I as a Christian do in the privacy of my home."

For the first three hundred years of its existence, the Christian Church met almost exclusively in private homes, as opposed to large buildings specially designed for religious services. I doubt back then they had any building codes or planning requirements when people gathered.

"And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house", Acts 20. 20.

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/07/07/phoenix-man-sentenced-to-jail-after-hosting-bible-study-in-his-h/

Corkfeen

The battle between Salman and the city of Phoenix is a longstanding feud. Hill said that Salman's neighbors complained of the gatherings back in 2007 because they were causing too much traffic congestion. Originally, about 15 people would attent the Bible studies, Fox News Radio reported.

But that number began to grow, and that's when Phoenix officials sent Salman a letter saying that his living room gatherings were in violation of the city's building codes.

When he didn't stop hosting the groups, the Phoenix Fire Department broke up a Good Friday gathering Salman was hosting at his home in 2008 in which there were as many as 20 people in the backyard.

Sounds more like it was unsafe to have such large gatherings (what would happen during a fire etc) and the addition of complaints. I know you like finding a conspiracy in everything but this as usual is not a real conspiracy. He would be allowed to host it elsewhere and merely behaved like an idiot by ignoring the warnings.

Finally, in 2009, a dozen cops raided Salman's home and charged him with 67 code violations for hosting the gatherings.

Since then, the courts have sided with the city, saying that Salman was using the building as a church and, therefore, was subject to city zoning laws.

"He built a structure that he said wasn't a church that is, in fact, a church," Hill told Fox News Radio.

He wasn't even honest in the application, why the need to lie if he didn't think he was breaking the law? He would run into the same issue if he was using the house for any other purpose that he had not listed. If he was running a martial arts class, once again he would be breaking the law. Just because it was religious, doesn't give him free reign over planning regulations.

eviltwin

So nothing to do with religion at all. Presumably had it been a meeting of the Phoenix Devil Worshippers the same rules would have applied.

Building regulations exist for a reason and however well meaning his intention if you do the crime, you do the time.

Manach

This seems to be administrative law, relating to building regulations. There is no indication that these are anything but focused on safety and that, the state officials in this case are neither acting ultra vires or abusing their discretationary powers.

Benny_Cake

He said he was building a games room, when he was actually building a church. He has some neck to be crying about discrimination!

Bloodwing

Perhaps the heading of this thread should be changed from,

Phoenix Man gets 2 months prison for hosting worship & Bible Study at His Home.

to

Phoenix Man gets 2 months prison for 67 building code violations.

Guess it's not as attention grabbing as some might like.