Town Bans Home Bible Study

[Jim Johnson]

[url]http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589385,00.html]http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,589385,00.html

Church Fights Back After Arizona Town Bans Home Bible Study

Monday, March 15, 2010

GILBERT, Ariz. —  The national Alliance Defense Fund says a town code that bars religious assemblies in private homes in the Arizona community of Gilbert is unconstitutional.

The Oasis of Truth church began meeting at Pastor Joe Sutherland's house in November and rotated homes several times a week for Bible study and fellowship.

A Gilbert code compliance officer hit the church with a violation notice after seeing a sign near a road advertising a Sunday service.

A zoning administrator told the church that Bible studies, church leadership meetings and fellowship activities are not permitted in private homes.

The Alliance Defense Fund's Doug Napier says no neighbors complained.

The Scottsdale-based group has filed an appeal with the town of Gilbert, contending its code violates the U.S. Constitution.

[Pat McCotter]

Gilbert looks to ease rules on meetings
Town rapped for ban on church gatherings

by Parker Leavitt - Mar. 16, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

A ban on church meetings in private homes has brought Gilbert into the international spotlight for all of the wrong reasons, Mayor John Lewis said.

Hundreds of e-mails from "all over the world" have flooded town officials' in-boxes since the Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale-based religious legal organization, cried foul over perceived religious limitations in the zoning code, Lewis said.

The code, which was last updated in April 2006, states that "religious-assembly uses are not permitted in single-family residential structures."

A Gilbert code-compliance officer in November interpreted that to include a prohibition of church meetings, such as Bible studies and leadership meetings, within private homes, according to the Defense Fund.

Town officials subsequently sent a cease-and-desist order to Pastor Joe Sutherland of the Oasis of Truth Church, which had held small meetings in the homes of its seven adult members.

"This is unusual that a town would go this far," said Daniel Blomberg, litigation counsel for the Defense Fund. "The church is concerned about being protected from discrimination. It's both a violation of constitutional rights and statutory rights."

The order was sent without the knowledge of Town Council members, who learned of the regulation about six weeks ago, Lewis said.

"When the Town Council became aware of this, it was an immediate reaction that this was not right," he said. "It is not Gilbert to say that we do not allow groups to get together, faith groups that just want to have worship services."

The council weeks ago asked town officials to stop enforcing the code until permanent changes could be made, Lewis said.

The issue was scheduled for discussion at next Tuesday's council meeting.

But media coverage and a strong public response have expedited the need for a revision of the code, and the council may hold a special session to resolve the issue before next Tuesday, Lewis said.

On Sunday, the mayor and Interim Town Manager Collin DeWitt attended worship services with the Oasis of Truth Church, which rents meeting space at an elementary school.

"It's a wonderful group and they'll be successful in building their church," Lewis said. "They have a great message."

This is not the first time Gilbert has been accused of religious discrimination, and a federal lawsuit is pending to bring about changes in the town's sign code.

In July 2005, the town notified Good News Presbyterian Church that it was violating code by posting signs too early in a public right-of-way.

The church used the signs to announce the time and location of worship services and often left the signs up overnight.

But, the town's code required the signs to come down within two hours of being posted, said David Cortman, senior legal counsel for the Defense Fund.

"This is just another case that proves the town is discriminating against people of faith," Cortman said.

"You can have a political sign up for years at a time, or even an ideological sign," he said. "The law requires that all signs are treated the same under the law."

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year denied the church's request for an injunction but remanded the case back to U.S. District Court of Arizona.

Lewis said he wants the community as well as those outside Gilbert to know the town values constitutional rights, including freedom of religion.

"This is a very religious community, and we have gatherings all over Gilbert," Lewis said. "That is a strength of the community."

[thinkliberty]

If it is acceptable for government to tell people when and where people can sell, make or build things on private property with zoning laws  it's acceptable for them to tell people where and when they can pray.

They aren't upset over all zoning laws, just the narrow zoning laws that prohibit them from doing what they want. They still want to prohibit other people from doing things that they don't like on private property.

[jzacker]

It's probably not legal to tell people where they can worship.  Unless it's causing a nuisance in the neighborhood (such as too many cars parked on the street), they can't tell them not to have home bible study.  They really should sue, it would be a great case.

[Russell Kanning]

traditionally churches could be built in zones for farming and such .... now these guys wanted to regulate small get togethers hahahaha