SAN DIEGO -- A pastor and the leader of a home bible study is sticking by his claim that a San Diego County employee told him the weekly Tuesday evening meetings at his house were a code violation.
Pastor David Jones, who said his 25,000 square-foot size church is just three miles away from his home, appeared on Fox News early this morning with his wife and lawyer. When show host Steve Doocy asked whether the official told him the code violation claim was about being over the limit with attendees at his home, Jones said, "No. They actually didn't say it that way."
"On Good Friday, we had an employee of San Diego County come to our house and inform us that the Bible study that we were having was a religious assembly and a violation of the code in the county," Jones said.
Lawyer Dean Broyles, of Western Center for Law & Policy, said the county's action not only violates religious land-use laws but also assaults both the First Amendment's freedom of assembly and freedom of religion.
"I believe our founding fathers would roll over in their graves if they saw that here in 2009 that a pastor and his wife are being told that they can not have a simple bible study in their home," Broyles said.
An employee of the Western Center for Law & Policy said late Wednesday afternoon that a letter to San Diego County officials in regards to the alleged code violation had not yet been sent. The county has not responded to the claims it has violated First Amendment rights.
Comments
Thanks for keeping us posted about this!
This STILL sounds like there has to be more to the story. How many readers have hosted Bible studies in their homes, at parks, restaurants, etc. Why was THIS Bible study sought out by the police? The facts just do not add up.
And no, I will not take an appearance on Fox "News" as support!
There are legitimate issues with people using private residences to host large parties, etc, where parking and traffic issues generate neighbor complaints. A FOIA (freedom of information act) request might turn up what initiated code enforcement's door contact. This may simply be a case of a neighbor dispute or it may be a case of Atheism becoming the state religion in the eyes of someone in code enforcement. In either case, the pastor, and perhaps the ACLJ, are in a situation where they should continue holding bible studies in the residence. If the city opts to continues the fight now that it's in the media, it's a clear sign that in times of economic strife, city officials are willing to spend millions on a political agenda, as this one clearly has potential to go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
We still don't know the full context of all comments/questions. Perhaps the officer asked if it was a religious assembly and the home owner replied, "What do you mean?" At that point the officer's questions are valid. That makes it a formalized, routine event - not just friends hanging out on occasion. If there are not adequate resources to host such an event on a routine basis, the County is doing the right thing.
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