{"id":11720,"date":"2012-08-08T17:11:12","date_gmt":"2012-08-08T21:11:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=11720"},"modified":"2012-08-09T00:11:26","modified_gmt":"2012-08-09T04:11:26","slug":"jailed-pastor-defies-bureaucrats-goes-to-jail-for-bible-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2012\/08\/jailed-pastor-defies-bureaucrats-goes-to-jail-for-bible-study","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix, Arizona, home church pastor defies bureaucrats, is jailed for hosting Bible study"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phoenix Pastor Michael Salman is feeling a little less heat. He\u2019s still in jail for holding Bible studies\u00a0at his Arizona home, but he\u2019s been moved inside from the 140-degree heat of Maricopa County Jail\u2019s famed \u201cTent City.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPastor Michael has been moved indoors,\u201d his attorney, John Whitehead, told Beliefnet.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Michael Salman<\/sup><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Like the Apostle Paul some 2,000 years ago, Salman\u00a0has devoted his time in custody\u00a0to sharing his faith\u00a0other inmates.\u00a0As he faced\u00a0the final 30 days, his church prayed for a miracle to shake open the prison doors — as in the Book of Acts\u2019 Bible story of the Philippian jailer. However, Salman\u2019s jailer is already a Christian \u2013 famed Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is staying out of the controversy that landed Salman behind bars.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Arizona preacher\u00a0ran afoul of Phoenix city officials, who Whitehead accuses of over-zealous enforcement of zoning ordinances. The real culprits, says Whitehead, is the Washington, D.C.-based International Code Council, which provides city councils nationwide with standardized zoning rules, which\u00a0Whitehead says are heavily biased against\u00a0any practice of religion outside of church sanctuaries.<\/p>\n

Salman says\u00a0rules-quoting bureaucrats are denying him, his wife and his six small children the right to invite their friends and family to talk about Jesus at their home.<\/p>\n

Officials say he violated a previous agreement by continuing to hold religious services in violation of zoning and building codes \u2013 hosting as many as 80 visitors at his 4-acre property in a 2,000-square-foot \u201cgame room\u201d that has a pulpit and pews and for which he has enjoyed a church exemption from property taxes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of Salman\u2019s Bible studies<\/sup><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Phoenix zoning officials say the case has nothing at all to do with Salman\u2019s faith, but everything to do with\u00a0zoning ordinances, occupancy permits and insufficient handicapped parking spaces.<\/p>\n

Whitehead says the case has everything to do with local city councils not paying enough attention to\u00a0standardized, but\u00a0highly restrictive regulations. Local council members, who are often volunteers, he notes, don\u2019t have time to read reams of new rules, but trustingly adopt the regulations \u2013 unaware\u00a0when rights are trampled. Whitehead cites recent cases in which a church handing out bottled water was warned that they would have to get a vender\u2019s license first — although the water was being handed out free. In another case, a church was told to shut down covered-dish dinners in its fellowship hall until it hired certified food handlers.<\/p>\n

Salman\u2019s case has attracted international attention. \u201cA Phoenix man has been sentenced to two months in jail, three years\u2019 probation and more than $12,000 in fines for using his private home to host weekly Bible studies in violation of the city\u2019s building codes,\u201d reported Snejana Farberov for the British tabloid the Daily Mail.<\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAn American pastor remained jailed in \u2018prison camp-like conditions,\u2019\u201d reported the International Christian Herald<\/em><\/a>, \u201cfor holding an unauthorized Bible study meeting at his home in the U.S. state of Arizona amid concerns about a possible \u2018North Korean-style\u2019 crackdown in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAttorney Says Pastor\u2019s Arrest May be First of Many,\u201d warns a headline from the ordinarily soft-spoken human rights group International Christian Concern \u2013 which is also concerned about Con tinued on Page Two<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phoenix Pastor Michael Salman is feeling a little less heat. He\u2019s still in jail for holding Bible studies\u00a0at his Arizona home, but he\u2019s been moved inside from the 140-degree heat of Maricopa County Jail\u2019s famed \u201cTent City.\u201d \u201cPastor Michael has been moved indoors,\u201d his attorney, John Whitehead, told Beliefnet. Michael Salman Like the Apostle Paul…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[74,2119],"tags":[2125,2124,2122,2121,2120,2123],"class_list":["post-11720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religious-freedom","category-rutherford-foundation","tag-international-christian-concern","tag-international-code-council","tag-joe-arpaio","tag-john-whitehead","tag-michael-salman","tag-phoenix"],"yoast_head":"\nPhoenix, Arizona, home church pastor defies bureaucrats, is jailed for hosting Bible study<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2012\/08\/jailed-pastor-defies-bureaucrats-goes-to-jail-for-bible-study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Phoenix, Arizona, home church pastor defies bureaucrats, is jailed for hosting Bible study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Phoenix Pastor Michael Salman is feeling a little less heat. He\u2019s still in jail for holding Bible studies\u00a0at his Arizona home, but he\u2019s been moved inside from the 140-degree heat of Maricopa County Jail\u2019s famed \u201cTent City.\u201d \u201cPastor Michael has been moved indoors,\u201d his attorney, John Whitehead, told Beliefnet. 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