Whose responsibility is it to protect unhoused when it’s freezing outside? An Ohio pastor opened his church to the homeless and was charged by city.

  • solrize@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Ambiguous title. The pastor didn’t ask for money from the freezing people. He took them in for free. The city then criminally charged him for violating zoning rules:

    Chris Avell, pastor of Dad’s Place in Bryan, Ohio, was arraigned in court last Thursday because he kept his church open 24/7 to provide warmth to the unhoused.

    Ohio law prohibits residential use in first-floor buildings in a business district. Since the church is zoned as a Central Business, the building is restricted from allowing people to eat or sleep on the property.

    • damnthefilibuster@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I dunno. It seems pretty clear that charged in this case means the government sicced the dogs on him for being a… checks notes… good Christian.

      • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        11 months ago

        No wonder we have so many Bad Christians when the good ones are punished for their deeds.

        This is what the gospel of Jesus meant that the life of a true Christian was the hardest.

        The people who actually follow the gospel are generally vilified by the majority of Christians for making the rest of them look bad or something.

        • ThePyroPython@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          If these people get angry at someone performing a good deed because that makes then look bad, they’re going to hell.

          If even the least absolutist christian sect, the church of England, teaches that as they did to me during my childhood, then those fuckers aren’t even close to being Christian. They’re just wearing a crucifix.

          Fucking posers.

      • OpenStars@startrek.website
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        11 months ago

        Hey now, since when does being a good Christian mean… checks notes… taking care of the oppressed, hungry & needy? Oh, well shit. :-P

      • mercano@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I wonder if there’s a first amendment defense to be made here. The pastor was following his religious tenets by sheltering the poor in the church in their time of need.

      • badbytes@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        So private sector does gov job, in caring for citizens and gets in trouble. As if the gov wants to criminalize kindness.

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      criminally charged him for violating zoning rules

      Well fuck’em.

      If its criminal to do the right thing for your fellow humans, do crime.

    • FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      So by this logic church patrons would have to leave the premises to eat a snack, participate in a church meal, or even eat one of those wafers they sometimes hand out.

      • dan1101@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        I don’t know, we don’t want a shooting range next to a preschool or something. Zoning does some good.

        • LrdThndr@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          You mean like here in maryville, tn, where the new Smith and Wesson factory and test range shares a property line with Middlesettlements Elementary School?

          Nothing quite like kids hearing gunshots outside at school.

          And it wasn’t just “allowed” by zoning laws. The city basically did backflips to get the plant to move here. They even convinced the city of Alcoa to cede the land to the city of Maryville without telling Alcoa why they wanted it.

          Bunch of shady shit all around, but the whole county basically sucks Smith and Wesson’s dick now. They even had a big festival on the day the plant opened to celebrate it.

        • theneverfox@pawb.social
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          11 months ago

          Wouldn’t a daycare/private preschool and a gun range both be the same light commercial zones?

          There might be regulation keeping you from owning a gun range near a school, but I don’t think zoning helps

        • maryjayjay@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Seems like a shooting range next to a school could be a deterrent.

          Hmmm, which school to shoot up? This one next to a bunch of folks with weapons and ammo within arms reach practicing marksmanship or any of these other ones without that?

    • maness300@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      he building is restricted from allowing people to eat or sleep on the property.

      Okay… so any business in the ‘business district’ is restricted from allowing people to eat or sleep on their property.

      If I was a lawyer, I’d record people eating in their business district buildings and present that to the court right next to the law that says they’re not allowed to do it.

      I would fight tooth and nail to ensure whatever judicial overreach is screwing over poor people also screws over rich ones.

      • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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        11 months ago

        No eating in the business district means no break rooms. And if Christian churches are in the business district, I’d imagine this means no communion wafers either.

      • Cowlitz@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        How many of those businesses work people so hard/overnight so they are sleeping in their offices? Its Ohio so probably not many but its probably still happened.

      • Substance_P@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Yep, and what boundaries constitutes a church, synagogue, mosque or place of worship these days, and why is one religion tax free, yet a philosophical movement is not? To whom is respon$ible for making these institutions exempt of taxation? I for one would be a proud supporter of a church that actually upholds the tenants of biblical teachings, and also follows in the footsteps of those morals, but it’s all just a sad sad part of modern day capitalism. This Pastor is a hero and should be heralded as such.

        • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Not that I particularly care if churches are or are not taxed but arguing that religion is philosophy just is empirically wrong. Philosophy is rarely passed generation to generation but religion is almost always is. No one would call an 8 year old a Hegellian but they would grasp the idea that the 8 year old is Muslim and should be given hallel food. A Marxist solider who dies in combat isn’t going to get a Marxist funeral. A Platoist is not going to request a Platoist leader to provide them comfort in their final moments. No one is bringing their family to weekly Russellian services where they sing about the glory of set theory. No desperate person has begged their local Utilitarian thinker to pray away the Utility Monster.

          I am an atheist btw so don’t try it.

          • Cowlitz@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            You’re right. The only difference between philosophy and religion is the cult aspect. So why are we rewarding the culty versions that indoctrinate children into being unable to think for themselves rather than actual philosophical movements? Its backwards as fuck. Religon is much of why humanity is so stupid. It requires faith. Faith and critical thinking cannot coexist when the faith involves meaning of life stuff.

    • OpenStars@startrek.website
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      11 months ago

      Technically you are correct, but this is far from the first instance of this kind, probably already even in 2024. I knew immediately what it meant b/c of that context… sigh, unfortunately:-(.

      Still, thank you very much for clarifying - Lemmy is shared world-wide, and not everyone may have picked up on that, especially non-native speakers. You are preventing misunderstandings hence promoting Truth, exactly as that pastor would have wanted:-).