Jail Time for Phoenix Man Who Hosted Bible Study at His Home

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.”

Vicki Hill, Phoenix’s chief assistant city prosecutor, said religious freedom had nothing to do with it and that it was a matter of public safety.                                                                                                                                  
“Any time you are holding a gathering of people continuously, as he does – we have concerns about people being able to exit the facility properly in case there is a fire,” Hill told Fox News Radio. “It came down to zoning and proper permitting.”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.

Salman then decided to construct a 2,000-square-foot building in his backyard and move the gatherings there. He said that he applied for and was granted the appropriate permits for the building.

Hill, however, said that the permits Salman received were for converting his garage into a game room.

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.

“The state is not saying that the Salmans can’t run a church or have worship services at the location,” read a Jan. 4, 2010, Arizona court ruling. “But the state is saying that if they do so, they must do it properly and in accord with fire and zoning laws.”

Salman doesn’t buy the court’s argument and has claimed that Phoenix officials are discriminating against him for his religious beliefs.

“If I had people coming to my home on a regular basis for poker night or Monday Night Football, it would be permitted,” he told Fox News Radio. “But when someone says to us we are not allowed to gather because of religious purposes – that is when you have discrimination.”

Salman’s attorney is appealing the ruling and Salman’s sentencing, but unless a federal court intervenes, Salman will begin serving his sentence on July 9.

Courtesy of http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/07/07/phoenix-man-sentenced-to-jail-after-hosting-bible-study-in-his-h/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl2%7Csec1_lnk2%26pLid%3D176623

Criminal Conviction Against Pastor For Ringing Church Bells Overturned

An Arizona court Tuesday overturned the conviction of a Phoenix pastor, who was sentenced to jail for ringing church bells.

The Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County reversed the conviction of Bishop Rick Painter of Christ the King Liturgical Charismatic Church in the wake of a federal court’s determination last month that the city noise ordinance under which he was convicted is unconstitutional when enforced against sounds generated in the course of religious expression, such as church bells – the ordinance offered an exemption for ice cream trucks, but not for churches.

Painter was convicted and sentenced to jail for ringing church bells, even after his church went to great lengths to compromise with the few local residents who filed complaints.

Just months after Painter was convicted for ringing church bells, city officials notified St. Mark Roman Catholic Parish that the ringing of its bells could be a violation of the same noise ordinance after one neighbor complained about the bells. St. Mark has rung its bells for the last 20 years.  First Christian Church of Phoenix, which wanted to repair and begin reusing its bell tower, feared it could also face prosecution.

“Pastors and churches shouldn’t live in fear of being punished or penalized by the government,” said Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley with Alliance Defense Fund, who is representing the churches. “Certainly, no pastor should have to fear jail time for engaging in peaceful religious expression.”

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a federal lawsuit, St. Mark Roman Catholic Parish v. City of Phoenix, so the three churches could ring their bells without fear of future prosecution and criminal penalties for violating the ordinance.

On April 19, the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona ruled the ordinance unconstitutional when enforced against sounds such as church bells. First Christian Church was dismissed from the lawsuit.

The bells at Painter’s church normally chimed every hour from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and have been registered to emit only 67 decibels from the nearest property line. A whisper is 30 decibels, and a normal conversation is about 60 to 70 decibels. Ice cream trucks are allowed to emit up to 70 decibels at a distance of 50 feet under an exemption to the city’s ordinance, but no exemption existed for church bells.

“Churches shouldn’t be singled out for ringing their bells as a public expression of faith, as has been done for centuries, while ice cream trucks get a pass,” said Stanley.

When Painter was given a suspended sentence of 10 days in jail and three years’ probation last June, the judge issued an order restricting chimes at the church to no more than 60 decibels for two minutes on Sundays and specific religious holidays. The federal court order eliminated those restrictions, and the order Tuesday in State of Arizona v. Painter from the Superior Court of Arizona, Maricopa County, clears Painter’s criminal record and the sentence against him.

Courtesy of http://www.christianlawjournal.com/featured-articles/criminal-conviction-against-pastor-for-ringing-church-bells-overturned/