He writes with the power of a spinning crescent kick

So, I opened my local newspaper yesterday and read a column by Chuck Norris about a pastor and his wife who were cited by San Diego County for holding a Bible study in their home.

After getting over my shock that 1) Chuck Norris is a writer and 2) He is writing for my paper, I actually found the story worthwhile. [OK, let me get this bit of sarcasm out of my system: Chuck Norris once shot down an airplane by pointing his finger at it and saying, "Bang!"]

After a major backlash against the government by conservative Web sites and stories reported on Fox News, the county has backed down and said they did not need a permit for a Bible study after all. Here's the full news story by the San Diego Union Tribune.

I have to back Chuck on this one. As a college senior, I took a class on Freedom of Religion. It was an intensive class that focused on reading and writing on case law. We wrote legal briefs and argued them before a mock Supreme Court for our final project. From what I've heard, it was very similar to what you might experience at law school. Throughout the semester, our professor kept on quoting the one line in the Constitution that sums up all we needed to understand about religious freedom, from the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

That's it. Done and done.

To create a situation in which a government official comes to your home to ask whether you are saying "Amen" or "Praise the Lord" is intrusive and misguided. So long as you are not committing a crime or hurting someone else, the government can't even come to the door and ask if you are saying, "Praise Satan." It's your business.

Bottom line, this was a parking issue that was botched by the county. A car belonging to a neighbor's visitor was dinged. The pastor paid to fix it, but he feels that sparked the complaint. I lived in Southern California for nine years, and I remember how neighbors usually felt no qualms about reporting each other to the government. Parking is a big deal in SoCal, and anyone who seems to be taking more than his fair share is going to draw attention to himself.

The solution would have been for the pastor to work with his visitors to ensure they know where they can park, to be respectful and maybe even have them share rides.

Amen.