Congress shall make no law...

...respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

But apparently local bureaucrats feel free to try to restrict home Bible studies or require people to get a permit to have a religious assembly. From Fox News...

Couple Ordered to Stop Holding Bible Study at Home Without Permit

Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a bible study — unless they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego County.

"On Good Friday we had an employee from San Diego County come to our house, and inform us that the bible study that we were having was a religious assembly, and in violation of the code in the county." David Jones told FOX News.

"We told them this is not really a religious assembly — this is just a bible study with friends. We have a meal, we pray, that was all," Jones said.

A few days later, the couple received a written warning that cited "unlawful use of land," ordering them to either "stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit," the couple's attorney Dean Broyles told San Diego news station 10News.

But the major use permit could cost the Jones' thousands of dollars just to have a few friends over.

I wonder if a group of atheists or homosexual activists were having a meeting in a home, would San Diego county make them get a permit? Methinks not.

Check out this video from Channel 10 in San Diego for more. We have ten people do a Bible study every night in our home just with our family alone. I wonder if we should buy a permit from the government that is supposed to be serving and protecting us in order to exercise a Constitutionally guaranteed right? Think about that, tax payers having to pay a fee to a government agency in order to exercise rights guaranteed in our Constitution long before San Diego was incorporated.