I'm Not Quite Sure That I Believe This

I'm Not Quite Sure That I Believe This

But it is California, where religious freedom at times only seems to extend to non-Judeo-Christian beliefs:

A San Diego pastor says county officials have told him he needs a permit to host a weekly Bible study in his home.

Pastor David Jones and his wife, Mary, were hosting the weekly study near their church, when they say they were visited by a county code enforcement officer. According to Dean Broyles, an attorney for the Joneses, the county official asked the pastor if they hosted a regular weekly meeting in their home, and if they prayed and said "Amen" and "Praise the Lord" at those meetings.

After replying in the affirmative to those inquiries, a subsequent citation notified the couple they were in violation of county regulations, should stop "religious assembly," and needed to apply for a "major use" permit to continue the gatherings -- a process that could cost several thousands of dollars.

Jones, his wife, and their attorney, Dean Broyles, were interviewed on the Fox News Channel. Broyles says the couple's rights have been violated.

"The government may not prohibit the free exercise of religion," says the attorney. "And I believe that our Founding Fathers would roll over in their graves if they saw that here in the year 2009 that a pastor and his wife are being told that they can't have a simple Bible study in their own home."

The article says that about 15 people attend this Bible study weekly--which would hardly seem to be enough traffic to justify permission from county government. (I could see if hundreds of people were showing every week in a residential neighborhood that there might be a legitimate question about a use permit.)

Maybe there is something else going on here that might explain the demand for a use permit. But if this is really just 15 people showing up every week, it doesn't make sense to require a use permit. Perhaps they should tell the county that they are getting together for an orgy--then there would be no question about it, since promiscuous sex is the one behavior that California government regards as fully protected.