In the city of Gilbert, Ariz., you apparently can gather your friends for a football game at your house, have an all-out bachelor (or bachelorette) party in your home or maybe just have a few friends over for a quaint evening of discussion as long as you don’t discuss the Bible.

That’s right. Gilbert, a wealthy suburb of Phoenix ranked 28th on the top 100 best places to live by CNN Money magazine in 2008 and ranked the fourth fastest-growing large municipality in the United States by that same publication in 2009, doesn’t want its citizens gathering around a Bible in their own homes as Joe Sutherland found out.

Sutherland is pastor of Oasis of Truth Church and had posted signs for a Bible study group at his home. This group consisted of seven people meeting at private homes around the area in a rotating fashion until one of his signs was spotted by Steve Wallace, a code compliance inspector for the city of Gilbert. Wallace, apparently eager to throw his weight around and itching to issue a citation, sent a letter to Sutherland on Nov. 23, 2009, advising Sutherland his small group was in violation of the town’s land development code that “prohibits the use of single family structures for religious assemblies, small scale.”

What is striking about Wallace’s letter is the lengths he went to track down Sutherland’s address. As he states in his letter, “I noticed a number of signs … near your house. They were advertizing (sic) church services in a nearby residence. At that time, I followed the signs but failed to identify your house. From the information on the signs, I discovered from your Web site that you are holding religious assemblies at your home …”

It should be noted at this point there were no complaints from neighbors, no loud organ music blaring from the home, no traffic issues, yet Wallace judged such a gathering to be so egregious as to require some online research. Clearly, Wallace and crew need some more work to keep busy.

Pastor Sutherland questioned Wallace’s interpretation of the city code and was told by Mike Milillo, the high zoning muckety-muck (OK, actually the zoning administrator) in a series of e-mail communications that, yes indeed, Sutherland was violating the town’s code that, according to Milillo’s interpretation, would even theoretically preclude a church-sponsored tea social from meeting at a private residence since the ordinance deemed all church-sponsored events are part of religious assembly.  

Milillo was kind enough to offer Sutherland a detailed explanation of the formal zoning interpretation for a fee of $305 and Sutherland took him up on his offer, receiving a detailed letter dated February 26 which he forwarded on to the Alliance Defense Fund, which describes itself as a “legal alliance of Christian attorneys” founded in 1994.

ADF filed an appeal on Sutherland’s behalf, asserting, among other things, the zoning code violates the Constitution’s Free Exercise Clause and Arizona’s Free Exercise of Religion Act. ADF further pointed out the town attempted to defend the code based on traffic, parking and building safety concerns and how the interpretation would prohibit even three-person church leadership meetings or church-sponsored potluck dinners in a residential home.

Faced with the insanity of trying to defend the ordinance, the city of Gilbert appears to be backing down with Vice Mayor Linda Abbott telling the local ABC affiliate the town council will likely pass changes to the ordinance at its next meeting. But there is a bigger issued raised here.

Why is it so readily acceptable to go after Christian gatherings while we, as a nation, fall all over ourselves not to offend, or appear to offend, non-Christian religions? I am a firm believer in offering equal protection for all faiths; which is a basic tenet of the freedoms our nation was founded upon.

Would bureaucratic ninnies like Milillo and Wallace have felt comfortable going after a Muslim group? I would bet not. I could only imagine the layers of attorneys that would have been consulted so as to ensure their rights weren’t being infringed and there was no disrespect being shown to the Koran.

We live in very confused times where Constitutional rights and civil trials are offered to foreign combatants intent on killing us in the name of religion yet private citizens are threatened for holding gatherings in their home to study the Bible.

I think I will pray for America … if that doesn’t violate any ordinances.



Ruthenberg is copy editor at the News & Eagle. Contact him at daver@enidnews.com.