It does have that "why can't I put my monument to the ten commandments in front of the court house while keeping the Jews and the Scientologists from putting up monuments there, too" smell about it, doesn't it?

Reminds me of that Louisiana Republican last week who voted to send taxpayer money to religious schools, then freaked out when she was told that one of the schools included was Muslim. The concept that her religion could be treated like any other was like trying to explain 'two' to a binary computer.

I've seen plenty of Frat Houses in ruins because of that very thing.

Honestly, I think everybody acts like a martyr when zoning laws are enforced, and they learn that they can't do whatever they want in their own home. Christians just happen to have a TV network to air their grievances.

Imagine 40 cars parked on your street every Sunday. When this guy goes to jail, there's going to be a block party.

I used to go this Zendo that was actually built in someone's backyard. The Zendo itself was just a converted garage and comfortably fit maybe about 20 people, though it was rarely ever that crowded and the people took great pains to park their cars about a block away and walk there.
Across the street was a large Catholic church whose parishioners literally clogged the streets in the entire neighborhood whenever there was a church event, or when it was Sunday. The church basically demanded to be free of parking laws and the ability to allow parishioners to park in the paid lot next to it for free during off hours and all sorts of other shit. When the neighborhood found out about the Zendo, they lost their shit and tried to get it shut down. the only way the people who owned the house were able to legally keep operating it was to go through all these bullshit hoops to get themselves filed as a non profit business and then have their land specially zoned specifically for "non profit activity." To this day they still get occasional shit and legal challenges. The Catholic Church that now dominates the neighborhood? Not so much.

So basically, in short, fuck Christians and their "boo woo we is so dayum oppressed" bullshit.

Stanley: I was following your rant, expecting it to support these people's right to assemble, since some fringe Christians having home worship is far more similar to some hippie Zendo (Is that a Zen Buddhist thing?) than it is like a Roman Catholic juggernaut. You can tell because the guy here is facing legal hassles and bullshit zoning regulations, like your Zendo, and unlike this evil church you're complaining about. But then you take a sharp turn into "fuck the Christians" land. Is your primary objection to this group the particular broad religious umbrella they fall under?

Also, as much as I'm a devoted atheist, think churches should be taxed, and think the religious are insane, I also think this use of zoning laws infringes on basic freedoms. I think people -should- have the freedom to gather in private residences for religious practices without having to get a permit from the state. To my mind, that's an integral part of freedom of religion and freedom of assembly.

I mean, I guess I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the regulators and assume that they were in fact gathering in a dangerous manner, but my experience with zoning regulations is that many of them do not make for better neighborhoods, but simply reflect the American love affair with sprawl.

The problems with zoning as separate and more complex debate than this, but the article did mention that they had over 250 chair and 300 people in what was supposed to be a family used room, with substandard building, no sprinklers or fire safety, and no emergency exists. So this use of regulation seems justified.

You don't need a permit to gather for religious purposes, you just need a permit if you're turning your house into a business or someplace that invites tons of licensees onto property. The type of speech isn't really relevant except for other planning purposes. City planners can want to keep businesses out of residential neighborhoods, but I've never encountered them keeping a church out for that reason.

I'd be more sympathetic to this guy if he was railing against zoning laws, and not claiming that his freedom of religion was being violated. I'd be more sympathetic if he wasn't disingenuously comparing having a church service at his home 52 weeks a year to once- annual events like superbowl parties, thanksgiving, and Christmas. If what I'm reading in these comments is true, I'd be more sympathetic to this guy if he was taking some of the money he's taking in, and using it to get his place up to safety regulations.

I'm not very sympathetic toward this guy.

But I'm way more sympathetic toward this guy than to those CBN fucks.

@GrandmasterFunk
My "fuck Christians" comment is directed towards the Christians who, when forced to play by the same rules everyone else has to play in this country, play the victim card and act like they are some oppressed religious minority who are banned from worship. It's not only intellectually dishonest, but it's complete bullshit. Even when they are given extra consideration and dominate the religious dialogue wherever they go, even a tiny thing like a small group of people gathering to meditate is seen as some kind of horrific intrusion on their little private fantasy world. "If only everyone was like us."
And then we see the REAL religious oppression: a legitimate gathering that falls under "religious" purposes that is not breaking any laws or violating any codes, that then suddenly has to justify it's existence legally or else face harassment.

The kind of shit in this video happens all the time: be it someone who wants to have raves in his house or start a private club or have huge gatherings. If it poses a threat and people complain, the city says "hey, do these things and then it'll be OK" and 9 out of 10 people comply. But because it's a Christian, now it's "He should be allowed to violate the law because JEBUS AND THE BIBLE" and people, generally, will be dumb enough to get suckered into buying that line of thought. So, yeah...fuck Christians.
if this guy had been Muslim, the city would probably have arrested him, taken his house, bulldozed it, and put everyone in jail.

Why dance around the issue? Christianity is a terrorist religion and SHOULD be oppressed. The only thing wrong with this video is that it wasn't Homeland Security that shut them down and hauled them to Gitmo.