Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Pastor Jailed for Hosting Church Services in Home

Pastor Jailed for Hosting Church Services in Home

The New American
August 7, 2012

Phoenix pastor Michael Salman is currently serving a 60-day sentence in a Maricopa County, Arizona, jail for violating his probation by holding religious services on his property, which is said to be in violation of zoning and building codes.
Salman, a husband and father of six, is an ordained pastor at the Church of God in Christ and a founder of Harvest Christian Fellowship.
In 2010, Salman was found guilty of nearly 70 Class 1 misdemeanors involving code violations in his home where he held church services, including not having lighted emergency exits, fire doors, or sprinklers. He appealed his convictions but the court upheld them.
On July 9, Salman began his jail term after being charged with hosting Bible sessions for as many as 80 people on his four-acre property, which he attempted to claim as a tax-exempt church. The city contends that as a church, Salman’s building was in violation of several codes.
Salman argues that he and his family should have a right to worship in his home and that his home was not used for public services and therefore should not be required to meet code requirements.
“The only people who came to our home were family and friends,” Salman said in a video posted online before he reported to jail this week. “Our home was not open to the public; it was private. We’ve never advertised. We’ve never had signage.”
The city claims to have evidence to the contrary, however, including photos of signage as well as pamphlets advertising services at the Salmans’ home.
Likewise, the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office classified the Salmans’ home as a church in 2008, and the Salman family has not had to pay property taxes on their home as a result.
Deputy city prosecutor John Tutelman asserted that the conviction is not focused on the Bible studies but on the building where they were held.
“The real issue isn’t the content of what goes on in the building,” Tutelman explained. “It’s the assembly itself. And he told us with all the evidence that it was a church.”
“The real issue is an assembly of a number of people in a structure that was not designed to comply with the city codes,” Tutelman continued. “If he set up a sign for a movie theater, we’d be prosecuting him for holding an assembly if it didn’t comply with the city codes.”

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

LET THE CHRISTIANS RISE, like the chick-fil-a incident, and make Arizona sorry it tried this. Fill up city hall with the PEACEFUL faithful, send out the call ! YOU GO, PASTOR ! Organize and network, we can do this ! TYJM frj

Anonymous said...

Pastor is probably a US Citizen.

brokenwrench said...

the american center for law and justice has been informed

Anonymous said...

This is VERY old news. The "bible studies" are NOT being held in the pastor's house. He built a VERY LARGE building on his property beside, but not attached to, his house. He also has a large portable sign advertising his church services, excuse me "BIBLE STUDY", in his front yard. This is all occurring in a normal residential neighborhood. Would you appreciate your neighbor having 70 or 80 of his closest friends over for 2 hours every week, taking up all of the parking and clogging the street in what is suppossed to be a residential area?

Wake up rubes!! This idiot is trying to have a church building without having to comply with the zoning and safety laws applicable to such structures!

Using the "pastors" logic, Joel Osteen has a "BIBLE STUDY" with 30,000 "friends" in a remodled coliseum.

Anonymous said...

@ 8:39, It doesn't matter what the codes say about the building, as codes rules regulations and statutes are only for internal use within the government and do not apply to the private citizen! While it may be an inconvinence to the neighbors it still doesn't violate their rights since it is his property and he has a right to do with it what he decides.

This pastor needs to learn how to challenge the jurisdiction of the city courts since they DO NOT have jurisdiction over him. They may have jurisdiction over the church if it is a 501C3 corporation but if it is not then they have no say over the church either.

Anonymous said...

God's plan all along. The man has been a blessing to the other prisoners, leading them to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Satan will use any circumstance, media, crisis to steer people away from Christ and The Truth. This man Is on a mission from God to help save souls. From what I understand about this case, is that he has been teaching the other prisoners The Gospel Of Jesus Christ, even in jail, he still serves God! Can I get an AMEN?
Jackie Blue

Anonymous said...

This story reminds me of a quilt shop in Orange County, California. For the convenience of the customers they were invited to have lunch with the employees. Everything was made in a spotless old-fashioned granny kitchen. Now here come the Code Enforcement Police. It turns out that you cannot feed your customers unless you have a commercial restaurant kitchen and the proper hot-food permits.

The Code Enforcement Police would have wanted their quaint granny kitchen torn out and replaced with a stainless steel beauty at a great cost to the quilt shop. The owner, 85 years old said NO. The Code Enforcement Police were not thwarted.

Later on they made a surprise raid on this non-conforming kitchen along with scores of police. They burst in the door. They saw a pot of soup on the stove. One of the Enforcers tried to stick his thermometer into the soup pot. The 85 year old owner, height 4' 11" pushed his arm away and told him to get his filthy thermometer out of her soup. She was charged with assault. Other members of the shop also tried to push these intruders out --- they were also arrested.

Long story short --- this 85 year old granny spent time in jail. Isn't this a great country or what? The Judges and the Courts should be proud!

References: www.piecemakers.com/govern.html and www.piecemakers.com/govern/marie18.html

Anonymous said...

Joel Osteen is a wolf and that is why he will get away with whatever he wants in this life, unlike a true Christian. His judgement will be harsh!