A recent news article reports that a Phoenix, Arizona pastor is in jail for holding Bible Studies on his own property. It seems that for seven years he has hosted Bible Studies on his more than 4 acre property, but now the city says he is in violation of some code. As a result, he is serving a 60 day jail sentence rather than give up his right to practice his religion.

When I was writing about Alexei Brynza, a pastor who endured persecution for his faith in the former Soviet Union, I never thought that anything resembling what he endured could happen in the United States. But here we, just like in the USSR, pastors unable to hold religious meetings in their homes.

And like in the USSR, the reasons for claiming the pastor was in violation of the law is not the practice of religion. Instead, some kind of safely concern is cited.

This is a troubling development. I’m reminded of the tactics of the Soviets, who used any means to discourage religious practice. Have we really come to this here? Are we really losing our religious freedom?

“Freedom is like air,” said Boris Yeltsin. “You don’t notice it until it is gone.”

We’re hearing a lot about religious freedom and how we are losing it. Who would have believed that our government would make such a blatant attack on our right to worship and practice as we choose? And this is all in the guise of “women’s rights.” What about the right of women to enjoy religious liberty?

Chuck Colson has been following this debate closely.

His conclusion is spot on. We don’t want to live in a totalitarian dictatorship, ruled by people who think our rights come from the government.

We’ve seen the Russians many of the few freedoms they enjoyed for a brief while after the fall of communism.

Are we the next to let ours evaporate?