PHOENIX, Ariz. (WordNews.org) — A Phoenix man is serving a 60-day sentence in jail and must pay a $12,000 fine for holding a Bible study at his private residential property and allegedly violating the city’s building codes, according to The Rutherford Institute.
The institute has petitioned the Arizona Supreme court for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Michael Salman.
Institute attorneys are challenging the legality of Salman’s imprisonment as a violation of his First Amendment rights to religious freedom and assembly. The institute is also challenging the city’s assertion that if a person holds Bible studies or other forms of religious worship at his residence, he is required to comply with all local laws relating to an actual church that is open to the public.
Salman appeared in municipal court this week to face charges that he violated his probation by continuing to hold Bible studies on his private property after being ordered not to have more than 12 people gathered on his property at any one time.
“While Michael Salman should never have been charged with a crime for simply exercising his religious beliefs on his own property, to keep him in prison while the question of his basic rights is being considered is the ultimate injustice,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “The continued imprisonment of Michael Salman for simply worshipping God with his family and friends on his own property demonstrates the lengths to which government bureaucrats will go in service of imposing dubious regulations on average citizens.”
Salman and his wife Suzanne have hosted Bible studies for family and friends since 2005. However, after some neighbors allegedly complained about the gatherings, city officials got involved. The couple was ordered by city officials in 2007 to stop holding the Bible studies in their home, saying they were in violation of the zoning ordinance and construction code.
The Salmans then erected a 2,000-square-foot building in their backyard, large enough to hold about 40 people, which they proceeded to use for their weekly Bible studies. Attendees parked their vehicles on the Salmans’ 1.5 acre  property.
Three years ago, nearly a dozen police officers, accompanied by city inspectors, raided the Salmans’ property, searching for  violations. Having determined that Salman’s weekly Bible studies constituted a church, city officials subsequently charged Salman with being in violation of various code regulations that apply to commercial and public buildings, including having no emergency exit signs over the doors, no handicap parking spaces or handicap ramps, the institute said.
Salman was found guilty of 67 code violations. The Rutherford Institute is challenging the city’s assertion that “Bible studies are not allowed to be conducted in your residence or the barn on your property as these structures do not comply with the construction code for this use.”
The Institute argues that Salman’s religious gatherings should have been treated as accessory uses under
the regulations governing residential property. But city officials say they can treat the Bible studies differently than family reunions, football parties or Boy Scouts solely because they are “religious worship.” Salman is serving his 60-day jail term in the Tent City Jail in Maricopa County. The Tents Jail began in 1993 as a response to jail overcrowding, houses inmates outdoors in military tents with four Sky Watch Towers for security, stun fences around the perimeter, facial recognition computer software for inmate identification, and K-9 units and patrol deputies for additional security.