Hopefully freedom of religion does something helpful, as the Bible says 40,000 times to home the homeless and feed the hungry.
Sounds to me like the pastor got that message. Nobody in the city’s government cares about that, but he got it.
Good on the pastor for doing what he did. Anyone who speaks out about it, or endorses the charges laid against him should be ashamed. Honestly, you’re going to condemn someone to die because of what? Because they’re poor? Homeless? Does that mean we should treat them like they’re not worthy of life?
Fuck you and the horse you rode in on. (Not you OP, I’m sure you’re cool)
Unfortunately (in this case), freedom of religion, in the US, only protects your right to practice your religion free from persecution. You can’t break the law and then justify it by saying it was a form of religious expression.
Laws aren’t just because they’re laws. The police could have simply practiced their right to discretion and ignored the zoning law for the duration of the blizzard.
The police are too busy firing less-lethal weapons at peaceful protesters to do anything that would benefit society. They were within the law, doing what they did. I’m not saying I support it.
Scientology seems to get away with it fairly often. And all those holy roller type christian churches bringing conservative politics into their services despite their tax exempt status. But this is where we draw the line - keeping people from dying of hypothermia.
So he’s the opposite of Joel Osteen? Sounds good to me.
This title is horribly ambiguous. I thought the pastor was charging money to let people shelter in the church. Instead he was being a good human and allowing people to shelter in the church for free and was charged by the city.
…I thought someone was pressing charges lol
I thought the church was in Wisconsin and didn’t get where Ohio came in. The church and pastor are in Ohio, but the author is making a connection to the recent hypothermia deaths in Milwaukee.
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zoning has never been about helping people
I’m from Houston Texas. A lack of zoning laws can also threaten my life.
That also happens in cities with strict zoning.
This is a non-sequiter, given that Milwaukee is nearly 300 miles and three states away from Ohio. It’s like, ‘eat your vegetables, people are starving in China.’
It’s a Milwaukee based newspaper. They’re trying to tie something happening in their city into the story, pretty standard for local journalism.
this isn’t just murican. this is super murican. Inception! Incursion!
Another reason not to visit
So when corrupt preachers rake in tens to hundreds of millions it’s tax-exempt because it’s not a business, but when a pastor actually cares for the needy like their book says to, that’s a crime because it IS a business?
Fuck that worst of both worlds nonsense! 🤬
but when a pastor actually cares for the needy like their book says to
I love it when people pretend to know what “the book” says better than Christians (or anyone else for that matter).
The book is a bunch of non-sensical, contradictory fairy tales written and rewritten by a million dudes, a thousand times over, to manipulate others.
I love it when people pretend to know what “the book” says better than Christians (or anyone else for that matter).
There’s no pretending. Most christians have never actually read it, and a lot of atheists are atheists exactly because they have.
The book is a bunch of non-sensical, contradictory fairy tales written and rewritten by a million dudes, a thousand times over, to manipulate others.
True, but one of the few things it isn’t unclear or downright self-contradictory about is that the main dude said to help the poor and otherwise marginalised people.
I love it when people pretend to know what “the book” says better than Christians
As an atheist who’s actually read the damn thing rather than just gotten the perspectives of conservative preachers and politicians, I’m not pretending. I do in fact know better than some so-called Christians what their stupid book says.
I also follow the more empathetic parts of it better than anyone on the “Christian Right”
I’m glad you brought this up. I don’t know if he stuttered. Never met the guy. But according to The Bible, he did say:
If a man also lie with mankind as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death.
- Leviticus 20:13
And:
You shall have no other Gods before me
- Exodus 20:3
Now we can go back and forth about what all of that means and historical context and all of that and I would argue that that would be arguing my point, precisely. None of us are born with innate knowledge of “God’s word” and God doesn’t come down here to clarify what he means about anything. So everybody interprets it to mean whatever they want it to mean (that’s you). And who are you tell absolutely anyone else that their interpretation is wrong?
Was it in the gospels?
No?
Unlikely Jesus said it.
Not today, Satan. Not today.
Huh?
Get thee behind me, Satan.
Man I hate zoning laws.
The D.A. is the one to blame. Sure the zoning laws are shit, but the D.A. has discretion about which cases to bring and pursue. They could easily just move the fuck along like they do with any number of other cases they do in the year, but having worked with a number of these dipsticks in a previous life, I can guarantee you they saw it as an easy win and didn’t expect to get the attention they did. D.A.s are just as bad as police officers when it comes to selective enforcement and application of the law and should be scrutinized much more closely during local elections.
D.A.s are just as bad as police officers when it comes to selective enforcement and application of the law
That’s because they ARE cops. They weren’t originally supposed to be, but they do the exact same thing as cops do: put as many people behind bars or to death as they possibly can regardless of whether or not they’re guilty.
Just like cops will get funding based on their “solve rate” whether or not they actually got the real culprit every or even MOST times, DAs run for re-election based on their conviction rate, no matter how many miscarriages of justice are counted amongst those "wins’
