Now this is scary

[crponies]

I don't care where you stand on religion, I would think you would find this scary. We are talking about the basic freedoms this country was founded on and I hope we can all agree to those.

couple told pay up for Bible study

Edited to add: Here is an online petition you can sign. I'm really not sure if these do any good but I went ahead and signed it: petition

 

[osu_barrelracer]

I by no means am religious. . . but I do agree that everyone has the right to get together and do/pray to/for whatever they want. That's our freedom.

However, for the government there to be that drastic, it makes you wonder if maybe there is another side to this story we aren't hearing. . .

 

[hobbyhorse23]

That's outrageous!!

Leia

 

[Littleum]

I'm inclined to think there's WAY more to the story.

15 people in a little house like that, on a little cul de sac and all their cars? Probably singing and carrying on? Maybe being even more obnoxious then that? You'd call the cops on a noisy party every week, why is a Bible study immune? Short answer: it's not. But it's a delicate issue.

My guess is these people generate lots of complaints. But when confronted with demands to stop... "We're exercising our freedom of religion, and our freedom to gather. You can't tell us to stop! You can't deny us our rights!"

So the city has just come at it through the backdoor: this group is violating zoning laws. Doesn't matter what the heck they're doing, they're violating zoning laws.

Don't be so quick to say this is a religious issue. I doubt it's actually about what they're doing, and more about how they're doing it.

 

[osu_barrelracer]

I'm inclined to think there's WAY more to the story.
15 people in a little house like that, on a little cul de sac and all their cars? Probably singing and carrying on? Maybe being even more obnoxious then that? You'd call the cops on a noisy party every week, why is a Bible study immune? Short answer: it's not. But it's a delicate issue.

My guess is these people generate lots of complaints. But when confronted with demands to stop... "We're exercising our freedom of religion, and our freedom to gather. You can't tell us to stop! You can't deny us our rights!"

So the city has just come at it through the backdoor: this group is violating zoning laws. Doesn't matter what the heck they're doing, they're violating zoning laws.

Don't be so quick to say this is a religious issue. I doubt it's actually about what they're doing, and more about how they're doing it.

Exactly what I was thinking. Very well put.

 

[crponies]

In further reading I did find where there was one complaint because apparently one of the people there for the Bible study accidently hit the car of another visitor to the neighborhood. That's the only thing I could find. I am not sure 15 people=15 cars either. I would imagine many of the people were couples who would come together. There are a lot more details I would like to know but I wasn't really able to find.

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

We had a neighbor only about 1 mile from us.He was a insurance man and she never worked out of the home, with a BIG beautiful home. Every Wed. they had what they called a bible study with "church" procedding after that. About 10 -15 cars also, they even had a name for "there" religion. We found out they never had to pay any property taxes on there home as long as they used it for a "church". Almost all the member who belonged were from there own family. To me that was a just a good way to avoid paying taxes, and no one could ever figure out way the county never stepped in and made him do so. They hels church /bible study there for well over 25 yrs. He passed away about 3 yrs ago, his wife still lives in the home but guess what...no more church or bible study going on, and she now HAS to pay property taxes.

 

[miniwhinny]

I don't find it scarey at all.

15 cars on a cul-de-sac...possibly blocking neighbors...possibly blocking fire engines should they need access. No one is stopping them from having their meetings..they're just saying to not have them there.

I'm sure the authorities have better things to do than to go looking for things to do so I'm betting this was brought to their attention by frustrated neighbors. I'm glad they have the nads to act.

 

[Sonya]

They really were having no more than a get together from the sounds of it....so I guess anyone who has a few friends over should fall under the same rules...pay a huge fine/tax whether they were being disruptive or not....if they were disturbing the neighbors then the police should of been called to take care of the situation...just like a "party".