I'm not surprised they backed down because they were facing a lawsuit that they couldn't win, plus the media storm that descended on them was probably way too much:
Broyles said he's been fielding media calls nonstop.As I mentioned yesterday, they might want to give remedial training on the constitution to their clerks to avoid such an embarrassing and costly mistake in the future."It's been hard to do anything else but to handle the phone calls and media interviews," he said. "It's been crazy, back to back to back to back."
They're blaming the whole thing on traffic issues but according to the lawyer for Pastor David Jones, the homeowner, that issue was never discussed:
Dean Broyles, president of the Western Center for Law & Policy, a nonprofit organization in Escondido that supports religious liberty, is representing the Joneses. He said traffic issues were not raised when the code enforcement officer first visited the Joneses in response to the complaint. The warning itself does not mention traffic or parking problems.Clearly, they were targeting them because they were holding a Bible study. In this country, that's unconstitutional. And I'm thanking the Lord for that :-)"Even though the county is saying it's about traffic and parking, it's a fake issue. It's a fabricated issue," Broyles said.
According to Broyles, the code enforcement officer asked a series of pointed questions during her visit with the Joneses - questions such as, "Do you sing?" "Do you say 'amen?' " "Do you say 'praise the Lord?' "
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There does seem to be a pattern developing of violent attacks taking place in churches, both liberal and conservative. Maybe it's simply because of the Internet and better communication, or maybe there is actually an increase in such crimes. I know that our congregation re-examined our emergency plan after the Knoxville UU shootings, and will likely do so after this attack.
I sincerely hope that the murderer was acting alone, a crazed looney with no connection to any other organization. If there is some connection discovered, even a loose connection, to the likes of Operation Rescue or some of the other, more "vocal" pro-life organizations, there will be a huge call for invocation of federal anti-terrorism laws in this case.
taking place in churches, both liberal and conservative.
And do we know whether this church was liberal or conservative? Is it enough to breathe "ELCA?"
There's no denying that this man's death will have an impact on the availability of the sorts of procedures he performed. At least, as the media reports tell it, he was one of the few.
Read Nickol's comments.
http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/?p=3231
Read the article concerning the transformation of John Macarthur's church at the link following this excerpt:
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Of interest, Grace Community Church elder and executive director of Grace to You, Phil Johnson, is a Baptistic Calvinist. This statement appears on his website: “Theologically, Phil is a committed Calvinist—with a decidedly Baptistic bent.” (Who is Phillip R. Johnson?) Even more interesting is this statement: “He...is a member of the Fellowship of Independent Reformed Evangelicals (FIRE).” The slogan of FIRE is “In essentials Unity, In non-essentials Liberty, in all things Charity.” (FIRE) Why is this interesting? FIRE’s slogan is nearly identical to the slogan of Phoenix Freemasonry! “It is the glory of Masonry to teach Unity in essentials, Liberty in details, Charity in all things; and by this sign its spirit must at last prevail.”
http://www.watch.pair.com/macarthur.html
Why is this interesting? FIRE’s slogan is nearly identical to the slogan of Phoenix Freemasonry!
Which is really ironic, since the saying is also attributed to St. Augustine.
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