Phoenix Resident Serves House Arrest for Home Bible Studies, Rutherford
Institute Files New Court Docs Challenging Misapplication of Zoning
Code
PHOENIX, Ariz. — Phoenix resident Michael Salman, who was jailed for 60
days and fined more than $12,000 for using his private residential
property to host a weekly Bible study, has begun serving his ten-day
house arrest sentence. In addition to being on house arrest, Salman also
faces random home inspections for allegedly violating 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. The Rutherford Institute continues to challenge the legality
of Salman’s imprisonment as a violation of his First Amendment and
statutory rights to religious freedom and assembly, in addition to
challenging the City of Phoenix’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. Most recently, Rutherford Institute attorneys
filed a brief in support of a motion for Salman’s post-conviction relief
with the Municipal Court of the City of Phoenix, which argues that
Salman’s prosecution, conviction and imprisonment for not complying with
commercial zoning codes on his residential property was erroneous.
The Rutherford Institute’s fact sheet on the Salman case is available at www.rutherford.org.
“As increasing numbers of Americans find themselves being victimized by
a government bureaucracy consumed with churning out senseless laws,
statutes, codes and regulations that reinforce its powers and value
systems and those of the police state and its corporate allies, the life
is slowly being choked out of our individual freedoms,” said John W.
Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “In such a society, we
are all petty criminals, guilty of violating some inane law or other.
This is not justice—this is bureaucracy.”
Since 2005, Michael Salman and his wife Suzanne have hosted Bible
studies for family and friends. However, after some neighbors allegedly
complained about the gatherings, city officials got involved. In 2007,
city officials ordered the Salmans to stop holding the Bible studies in
their home, insisting that they were in violation of the zoning
ordinance and construction code. The Salmans subsequently erected a
2,000-square-foot building in their backyard, large enough to hold
approximately 40 people, which they proceeded to use for their weekly
Bible studies. Attendees parked their vehicles on the Salmans’ 1.5 acre
property. In June 2009, 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. Salman was later
found guilty of 67 code violations. In coming to Salman’s defense, 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. However, city officials
claim that they can treat the Bible studies differently than family
reunions, football parties or Boy Scouts solely because they are
“religious worship.”
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