Was a Bible Study Recently Persecuted in San Diego?

You've already heard most of this. The evening began as a simple Bible Study hosted by a local pastor. As cars lined the street a guest managed to scratch a neighbor's car which led to someone complaining to the police. After realizing a religious meeting was in progress the police actually told the pastor that the Bible study was in violation of county law.

The pastor happily paid for the damage done to the neighbor's car. Meanwhile, the internet and local media outlets were quickly filled with stories about the persecuted church in San Diego - and the thought that your church could be next. (Cue scary music.)

As usual, the news outlets were a little slow to finish off the story. The CAO of the San Diego police issued a statement that included the following:

...I want to say in the most direct terms:
the county has never tried to stifle religious expression and never will... ...I deeply regret that a routine code enforcement issue has transformed into a debate over religious freedom in San Diego county. No one respects the right to free religious expression more than I do and no one would find the infringement of such rights more abhorrent.

Something went wrong in San Diego that night - but we are not facing a persecution in the United States in this way. Unfortunately, some Christian bloggers were too quick to jump to the wrong conclusion. Blogs like this one tell us that the persecution against Christianity found in other countries has come to America. This one claims that Obama is responsible and that the President has an agenda to stop Christianity. It's no secret that I didn't vote for President Obama but I certainly wouldn't discuss him so foolishly even though I disagree with him.

This is persecution - pray this is as close as we get to it.

Far from being government persecution, the letter from the San Diego Police Department (which you can read in its entirety here) actually encourages the Bible study to continue meeting while all parties involved work to reach a solution.

Instead of living in a fantasy world where the apocalypse is upon us let us thank God for the religious freedom we have and exercise that freedom by working in our churches and our communities to be the light of the world.

(source)