From ABC News:
The fight, pitting religious freedom against the right to be comfortable in one’s own home, started in March 2008 — on Palm Sunday.
After opening in a new location in Phoenix, Ariz., The Cathedral of Christ the King started playing a recording of church bells every half hour — every day — from morning to night.
“To me, it is one of the ways that we express praise and worship to God. And it is also one of the ways that God speaks out and says to the community that there is somebody here that cares,” said Bishop Rick Painter, rector of the Cathedral of Christ the King, a local Charismatic church affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America.To neighbors like Sam Jensen and Al Brooks, it was a rude shock.
“I didn’t know where it came from. It was six in the morning,” said Brooks. “I had no idea what it was. And then they were playing every half hour, so it woke me up and I came out into the back yard and then I heard them again every half hour all day long — 31 times that day,” said Jensen.
After calling the cops, they had a heated meeting with Painter, who offered to reduce the ringing to once an hour.
“I can’t imagine that God in heaven would look down and say that’s a good thing to do to your neighbors,” said Jensen.
“We all celebrate God, but we don’t disturb our neighbors doing it,” Brooks said.
The neighbors felt the church was inflexible, and inevitably the case landed in court, where the judge sided with the neighbors.
She ordered the bells silenced, except on Sundays and church holidays. For the first time anyone can remember, a religious leader was convicted of disturbing the peace. The bishop was given a 10-day jail sentence, which was suspended, and three years probation — a misdemeanor for ringing church bells.
I’ve always liked the idea that a church should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, but you can’t do that in Phoenix, it seems – at least, not aurally. I grew up hearing church bells ring all day; they were rather restful compared to the ungodly racket that assaults the sensibilities today. The constant roar of traffic, punctuated by the pounding that emanates from the cars of pimply teenagers. The abomination of muzak, ubiquitous and soul-numbing: Pachelbel’s canon, even if I am not hearing it in an elevator or at a wedding, reliably induces a near-coma trance followed by acute nausea. And the full might of the law descends on a bell-ringer.
A 10-day suspended jail sentence and three years probation is a first for an ACNA pastor – and all for ringing a few bells. I expect there is worse to come.
You know, I’m with the neighbours on that one. There is no necessity to ring the bells every half hour.
I don’t get it. What’s with ringing bells constantly? There’s no church tradition for that. Bells are for sending messages, alerting of danger, calling the faithful to worship, tolling for the dead, ringing the hour to keep time for prayer or work…all functions mostly taken over by other technologies today. You gotta pick your battles buddy. And this ain’t one of ’em.
Sec. 23-12. Creation of unreasonably loud and disturbing noises prohibited.
Subject to the provisions of this article the creating of any unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noise within the limits of the City is hereby prohibited.
(Code 1962, § 26-1)
This is the ordinance use to convict the Bishop can any of you show me where there is any set standard? The bells only rang at 6 am 1 day due to a computer glitch and only every half hour for 2 days The church reduced the bells to once an hour from 8am to 8pm for only 30 seconds at the top of each hour except for noon when they rang for 1 min and 30 seconds. The Church put up noise abatement foam around the speakers and positioned the speakers up and away from the neighbors (which there were only 4 to complain)but the 2 in the news story would not even try to compromis they stated in court that they want absolutely no bells.