Right-Wing Christians Screech About ‘KGB’ Spies After City Simply Checks Church’s Zoning Permit

[Panich52]

Right-Wing Christians Screech About ‘KGB’ Spies After City Simply Checks Church’s Zoning Permit

Concern over a Florida church's possible lack of an emergency exit leads to suggestion of a war against religion.
By Travis Gettys / Raw Story

A Florida pastor claims his religious rights were violated after city officials investigated whether his church had the necessary permits on file.

Pastor Mike Olive operates the Common Ground Church and Coffee Bar in Lake Worth, which recently took over code enforcement from the fire department.

The city does not require churches or nonprofit organizations to pay a business license tax, but they are required to obtain a use and occupancy certificate – which officials use to ensure they don’t pose public safety hazards or break any local, state, or federal laws.

Olive became alarmed last month, when a code officer stopped by the church and recorded video evidence on his cell phone.

“We had one gentleman come in from the city wearing a hoodie, and he was hiding the camera in the pockets of his hoodie,” Olive said.

News accounts of the incident compared the code officer to KGB spies and suggested city officials were waging war on religion.

The code officer, Gerald Coscia, found the church may have been overcrowded and possibly lacked a sufficient emergency exit, and he said the building likely failed to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

He determined that Olive’s landlord, Mission Education International, had a valid business license for the coffee shop with an exemption for charitable organizations, but the church lacked a use and occupancy certificate.

City officials notified the landlord by letter and outlined what they needed from the church to issue the proper permit, but Olive claims the investigation violates “the separation of church and state.”

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http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/right-wing-christians-screech-about-kgb-spies-after-city-simply-checks-churchs?akid=12844.1924881.l_jLhL&rd=1&src=newsletter1032729&t=21

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

1. i cant decide what is worse, Iranians for killing gay people for being gay

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/sep/07/iran-executes-men-homosexuality-charges


or rightwing christians in america who would like to do that if they could get away with it

i suppose the iranian deal is worse, for now anyway

[Initech]

2. "Hey! This emergency exit is painted on!!!"

[gopiscrap]

3. fucking Christo-facists

[kestrel91316]

4. In a hoodie? Is that code for "that n----r looked like a thug"?

So radical fundie churches want the right to burn their parishioners up in a fire? Awesome sauce. That would work fine for me.

[Panich52]

5. No mention of inspectir's race. Maybe paranoid pastor thinks wearing a hoodie automatically makes

one a thug, n***er or not. So nice to know evil elements have a required uniform