ok ... on the surface this seems outrageous... However.. would you REALLY want your neighbor running a church or anything else very regular out of his house filling up the street with cars ect?
Absolutely! And that was a REALLY dumb question. And, BTW, it's "etc" for Et cetera.
Freedom can be so inconvenient and messy. Really yucky.
Please don’t go there! Private property ownership is sacred! If they aren’t disturbing the peace (parking on street is annoying, but NOT illegal), any gathering on private property is no one else’s business!
The article states that there has been NO complaints from neighbors about the meeting, so I don’t think running a church from a house is an issue in this town, at least among community members. It sounds to me like it might be an ordinance that another denomination, maybe a mainline Church, might have suggested to lessen the competition,so to speak. Sometimes, these small, non denominational church gatherings draw people away from larger, mainstream denominations. I hope I am just whistling in the wind, but you never know. Hard to think how the law came into being otherwise.
Happens every football season.. :)
>> However.. would you REALLY want your neighbor running a church or anything else very regular out of his house filling up the street with cars ect?
They already do, in our neighborhood. Very regular bible study meeings with about THIRTY (shudder) TEENAGERS.
They don’t make noise, yes their cars fill the street to some extent, and yes, they’re teenagers so they drive like such when they’re leaving.
But they’re polite and respectful and what’s more they’re studying God’s word rather than smoking dope.
We haven’t taken a poll, but it’s certainly OK with Mrs. Tick and me and we haven’t heard anyone complain.
Not just the parking, either. In many communities there are fire codes stipulating how many people are allowed to congregate (even for a one-time occasion) in a space with a given area and a given amount of exits. Forget arguing about it; fire codes are sacred in court.
What is it about the Constitutionally protected "freedom of assembly" you don't understand?
And then what possible, Constitutionally credible rationale informs the prohibition such assembly, which happens to be a gathering of Christians for a Bible study?
You sound like you've been bitch-slapped by the little plutocrats running your "home-owner's association" one too many times.
Think.
FReegards!
Do you really want to be restricted from having more than seven people in your house at one time?
Freedom, Tex, means they can do that. Or have an amway meeting, or a boy scout meeting, or a bridge club, or a zillion other associations that require regular get-togethers.
It is wrong to pick out only religion for sanction, but this is deeper even than that.
It is wrong for government to tell us with whom and how we can associate. I have a man in my church who honestly is from a family that had 24 children. When they get together with kids and grandkids, it's a small town that moves in.
Are we going to tell them they can't get together 'cause their family was just too darn large?
Or are we going to uphold free association and the right "peacably to assemble".
“...would you REALLY want your neighbor running a church or anything else very regular out of his house filling up the street with cars...”
We have gatherings for bible studies and prayer meetings in our home and we provide off-street parking for all who come. No bother to neighbors.
SEVEN PEOPLE!?!?
Did you also notice this portion of the article?
There had been no complaints about the meetings, which had been rotating among members' homes before the officer wrote the letter and ordered the group to "terminate all religious meetings … regardless of their size, nature or frequency," because he noticed signs about the meetings.
IOW, this isn't even in response to a complaint. The local government nazis are making an issue out of it for whatever reasons they may have, one of which seems to be that they advertised the meetings. I don't think we are talking about a huge garish neon sign or anything of that nature. More likely, we are talking about a notice pinned on a bulletin board at your local market or, possibly, a political campaign sized lawn sign which moves with each rotating meeting so the members can easily find the place.
Running a church and having a Bible study are two totally different things.
My neighbor is Bahá'í so it is not a hypothedical question for me. And the answer is that no one around here has a problem with it.
This is seven people getting together at a given house once every 4 weeks. On this surface it's outrageous. Below the surface it's government oppression.