I'm just curious. Is there a law prohibiting the practice of religion? All I know is that the constitution which is the highest law of the land says;
//Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;//
Perhaps the problem is in that you don't understand what it means. It means that Congress cannot make a law where one religion is given preference over another, and cannot make a law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.
But nowhere in the Constitution does it say that zoning laws can be ignored and that people can build a church wherever they want (remember the outcry because Muslims wanted to build a community center in NY near ground zero and Republicans/conservatives were up in arms over it because they thought it was a mosque being built on ground zero?) So, you can't have it both ways.
Congress is not making any laws favoring one religion over another and they certainly aren't making any laws prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The City, county, or state can enforce its laws against people that disobey zoning laws and other laws regardless of whether they are practicing religion or not. Got it?
Zoning in the United States includes various land use laws falling under the police power rights of State governments and local governments to exercise authority over privately owned real property.
This constitutional provision... does it mean to ristrict the free exercise of religion?
The provision you are referring to is addressing Congress, that Congress cannot make a law which prohibits anyone from exercising their religion whatever that religion may be. And Congress is not even involved in this situation.
It is my understanding that he violated zoning laws. Safety is always prime when buildings/churches/houses are being built. There are restrictions and requirements that have to be met in regard to how the building is to be used. This guy was allowing many people to come to a home that was probably not built to hold that many people, and their safety was at risk. Also, when putting up a building you have to allow for adequate parking. Because they were meeting at his home, people were probably parking on the street and blocking access to firefighters in case of a fire. He was warned, as I understand, several times. So, he was not charged because he was holding religious meetings, but because he was putting people at risk, offending the neighborhood with traffic, and was not obeying the law.
Bible studies is allowed but did he make his property into a church?
Bible studies are usually comprised of several people, not like you would have at a church. And, according to some of the write ups, his bible studies were being run more like a church.