“Bible Study Lands Arizona Pastor in Guantanamo Bay-Like Jail,” screams the headline from Charisma news.
Intriguing. So you read the article, in which Rutherford Institute founder John Whitehead laments the harsh treatment afforded pastor Michael Salman for holding “home Bible studies.” Whitehead warns that anyone hosting “a small gathering” for religious purposes is now at risk of being harassed by the government. Another interviewee compares the situation to North Korea and warns of persecution of religious gatherings in the U.S.
Wow, you think, has an injustice been done here? And then you remember: oh, yeah, the religious right’s rhetoric about threats to religious liberty is rarely accurate, almost always wildly overblown. A commenter links to the other side of the story, told by the city of Phoenix. And yes, it’s a very different take.
The case is not about a small group of people meeting in a home for Bible study, as Rutherford implies. According to the city, it’s about a guy who built a church in his backyard under false pretenses, who regularly attracted as many as 80 people to his twice-a-week services, and who has been resisting for years requirements that he abide by basic building, fire, and zoning codes.
So you go back to that Charisma story and the overblown rhetoric about religious persecution, and remind yourself not to take seriously the next thing you read or hear from the Rutherford Institute.
And while you can’t be sure, you don’t recall reading that the heat and harsh conditions at Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Maricopa County Tent City Jail had previously moved John Whitehead to concern over the inmates and immigrants detained there.
