Crossing The Line

When a county government decides that having 15 people over to your home for an evening Bible Study requires a costly "major use permit," a line has been crossed somewhere.

Maybe it's the constitutional guarantee of freedom of assembly, which states that people can gather with whomever they want for any lawful purpose.

Maybe it's the constitutional guarantee of the free exercise of one's religious beliefs.

A San Diego pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a county official and warned they will face escalating fines if they continue to hold Bible studies in their home.

The couple, whose names are being withheld until a demand letter can be filed on their behalf, told their attorney a county government employee knocked on their door on Good Friday, asking a litany of questions about their Tuesday night Bible studies, which are attended by approximately 15 people.

"Do you have a regular weekly meeting in your home? Do you sing? Do you say 'amen'?" the official reportedly asked. "Do you say, 'Praise the Lord'?"

The pastor's wife answered yes.

She says she was then told, however, that she must stop holding "religious assemblies" until she and her husband obtain a Major Use Permit from the county, a permit that often involves traffic and environmental studies, compliance with parking and sidewalk regulations and costs that top tens of thousands of dollars.

And if they fail to pay for the MUP, the county official reportedly warned, the couple will be charged escalating fines beginning at $100, then $200, $500, $1000, "and then it will get ugly."

No, it's already ugly.

Technically speaking, the Constitution bans Congress from passing such obtrusive laws, but in general the states have accepted the Bill of Rights when entering the union and they, and their subdivisions, violate them at their peril.

This is just another example of how far this nation has fallen in a few short decades. An incident such as this was unthinkable 50 years ago.