Are Church Bells a Freedom of Religion or Disturbing the Peace?

That is yet another state abuse of power. It is outrageous for the church leader to be given a 3yr probation for simply ringing some stupid bell. I mean get real–when does it stop? We might as well pull down the Stars and Stripes and run up the Hammer and Sickle. We are quickly reaching the point of Orwells 1984…

Silence those bells. Nobody should be forced to listen to church bells every half hour. Actually if I lived there it would be interfering with my right to religious freedom since I could not meditate with church bells ringing.

OK who was there first the church or the neighbors? If the church was the judge is wrong.

I am a Catholic Christian and I disagree with this Bishop’s decision to ring church bells each day on the half hour. In a neighborhood this would be an intrusion into the peace and quiet of a home. If a Moslem Mullah shouted the call to prayer in a neighborhood five times a day they would be cited as disturbing the peace and rightly so. In fact this has been tested in the courts in, I think, Dearborn Michigan and the Moslems lost in court. Ringing church bells before services ONCE on Sunday is plenty. Not everyone shares the Bishop’s zeal and it isn’t right to drag the ears of others into his belief.

Bravo! Silence the bells of intolerance. Your religious freedom comes tax free, while my secularist non-religious freedom pays for it.

My husband and I live in a subdivision very near US Route 35 with the first traffic light east of Dayton. We hear traffic and trucks slowing/braking for the light from early in the morning to late at night AND the noise from the local speedway a few miles east of us even through double panes of window glass. It’s so good to know that we now have a precedent to sue both our city and the speedway for disturbing our peace on a regular, daily basis. If a court upheld that a Church was annoying its neighbors with bells, I’m sure we would have a case since we are greatly disturbed by trucks shifting down and cars speeding around the race track. I’m just wondering what line the courts will finally draw?

Noise, is noise, no matter that a church is the producer of the noise, there are still noise laws, the church ISN’T exempt from the law, I don’t care how long the church has been there.

This Type of arrogance by the Bishop is why so many people continue to level the church. To INTENTIONALLY cause harm to someone is not what Jesus Christ teaches! Shame on your Bishop!

Why didn’t ABC News identify the bishop ringing the bells as Anglican?

I grew up in a neighborhood where there were at least 4 Catholic churches within earshot – bells rang 15 minutes prior to the start of Mass (better than a wristwatch), at funerals and weddings. That was part of the fabric of growing up – just as the train whistles were as they went through intersections. There was one Daily Mass during the week, and Sundays had maybe 4 or 5 – so the mornings on Sunday got a bit noisy, but they only rang for a few minutes each time they sounded. I think this Bishop needs to love his fellow man and cut the neighborhood a break – bells would be lovely if they weren’t so ‘in your face’.

I live in a historic neighborhood in Deland, Florida. My Home has been here since 1921, and the neighborhood since 1856. A one room house of worship located in the neighborhood since 1980,added a daycare that turned into a “special exception” only, allowed parochial school grades 1 to 4. Now 10 yrs later, they closed their 2nd school 5 miles away and moved over 200 students to the school located next to my my home. Now we have over 400 kids receiving fed.funds through the Title 14 corporate tax scholarship program for indigent kids. They are packed onto less than 3 acres and the decimals reach 80 on a noise meter where only 50 is allowed in a residential area. I am sure Fed. funding would be cut off if we could find an attorney that would protect our civil rights to live in peace in our home as I am a disabled vet with PTSD and need the quiet.

Your report clearly gave the impression this church is part of the Roman Catholic Church. It is not. It is a small group of reform Protestant Episcopalians. This is another example of major media getting the story wrong in a way that puts the Catholic Church in the wrong light of not being good citizens.

To the lady in Dayton – if Highway 35 was there when your subdivision was built then the trucks should not have been a surprise. If it came after, then there was planning and public comment. In any case your was specious. The people using mullahs calling to prayer 5 times a day as an example had the right argument! Church bells are no better than uncontrollable barking dogs. Beautiful to some, but interfering with everyones right to some peace and quiet.

I live across the street from a church that marks the hour with church bells 24/7. The sound is comforting but not so loud that it’s disturbing. Maybe the clergy could see fit to lower the decibel level.?????

Have to say I find it funny that people are accusing ABC of ‘misleading’ or ‘misinforming’ people about the denomination of the church. The noise complaint has absolutely nothing to do with the religion being practiced, it has to do with the noise they’re making. The name of the church is listed in the first sentence. Sounds to me like someone’s a little touchy and imagining slights which don’t exist.

There are many churches that ring bells everyday. Why should this be different?

This bishop has an ego problem, plain and simple. He’s a power hungry little man who is determined to bulldoze the sensible requests of his neighbors with his own self interest. The phony bells he is subjecting his neighbors to are no more real than his kindness and compassion as a religious leader. What a pathetic visual of arrogance unmasked.

I can’t believe the bishop is charged for ringing church bells. Everyday we hear trains, freeway traffic, garbage trucks,neighbors’ lawn mowers, rap music in cars next to us, and we tolerate them. Can the beauty of bells be so disturbing? Seems to me its more intolerance of religion. I concede that 6 a.m was too early and maybe every half hour was too much, but should we confine the practice of religion to Sunday only?

This is irresponsible reporting, in my view. The story led me to believe that this was a Catholic bishop, and I was horrified, but it seems that the whole presentation was intended to lead people down that train of thought. This IS NOT a Catholic bishop, and it would have been helpful if you reported this information, just as you would for any other story.

I think the story should have included the name of the denomination as well as the names of the church and the bishop.

Re: “All you Christians do is whine about how you are being discriminated against. Such hypocrisy.” Especially considered that Christians are directed to “turn the other cheek”. What ever happened to Christian Christians?

The Bishop needs to tone it down.

Those recorded church bells are the most annoying thing I have ever heard in my life. Not just annoying, they’re really more like nails on a chalkboard. I love real church bells, but those recorded things kind of drive me off the deep end. I pretty much consider them cruel and unusual punishment, and I don’t blame people for not wanting that brought into their neighborhood. It’s kind of like being a good neighbor – you have to be considerate to others, and remember that everything you like is not necessarily liked by everyone around you.

People just can’t stop whining about things can they?
Just shut up and deal with the bells if you don’t like them.
The church needs to be considerate as well.
That’s how adults handle things.

Bravo for the judge! Cut the noise. Name any other organization or business (or any other religion) that could come in and ring bells at all hours. There aren’t any. The ONLY reason this question is being asked is because a Christian church is involved. As to the commenter who noted the open season on Christians, dude, it’s impossible to be a persecuted minority when you make up 85% of the population involved. When Christian numbers drop below 50%, THEN you might have a case. Until then, you’re not only whining, you’re lying in order to do it.

You all need to try living next to train tracks, especially a main line. Those church bells wouldn’t have affected me one bit.

That church rings the bells and the members likely don’t live close enough to hear it.
Last year church party a quarter of a mile from me played their Christian music so loud that we could hear every word inside our house. The only difference between loud church music and loud rap is that rap uses foul language. If your child is sick and trying to rest, there is no difference at all.
I could go on forever but suffice to say that I once lived next door to a church, never again. They don’t care who they bother. They only care about themselves.

Kristi — Railroad track about 300 yard south of me. Church about a quarter of a mile east. The church makes a lot more noise and the train doesn’t make noise for hours at a time.

The minister across the street once bragged to me about a church camping trip to the lake when they played Christian music loud enough to hear for miles across the lake. I told him about a Methodist church next door to me 30 years ago which played Christmas music 24 hours a day the week of Christmas. No one in the neighborhood could sleep for a week and my wife miscarried the child she was carrying.
Every time a Christian tells me about abortion and how they care about the lives of unborn children I remember my unborn child that they killed with their worship. Don’t tell me they care about other people. I know better.

Michelle
Are you saying that the rights of those two people don’t matter? You have the right to swing your arms. Your right to do that ends where my nose begins. The First Amendment says you have the right to practice your religion. It gives me the same right. My religion says I should have peace and quiet and not have your religion forced upon me. What about my rights?
How many people were affected who didn’t complain?
You have no way of knowing.

I’ll defend to the death the rights of others to worship or not worship as they see fit as long as they don’t harm innocent people or try to force their religion on me. I will also defend to death my right to worship as I see fit, free from the interference of others.
Ring your bells so that only the members of your church can hear them. Believe it or not, contrary to what some believe, the rest of us have rights too.

Always at one anothers throat, ready to strangle anyone that dosn’t agree with our opinion. Whatever happened to compromise and help your neighbor. This kind of division and the demand for personal rights is destroying America. This whole conflict should never have reached this level. The church should have cut back on the bells a little and used directional speakers to reduce the sound level to the complainers. The court should have realized this and also aware that setting this kind of example may result in noise related law suits directed to the universities, and cathredals in Washington DC (where politicians attend). Lets all keep fighting with one another. See you in the soup lines soon.

This is the noise ordinance used to convict the Bishop.
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)

A few months ago the Jehovah Witnesses had a conference in Fort Smith Arkansas. I had to go downtown to take care of some business for my dying mother-in-law. Those fine Jehovah Witness people blocked the public parking lot and wouldn’t let anyone but their church members into the public parking lot.
The next day one of their people came door to door inviting people to church. He mentioned the conference. I told him I knew about the conference. “I’m the #### who call the police to make you stop blocking a public parking lot.” He left without making an apology. I didn’t expect one.
Some people fail to realize that other people have rights too.

Too much of ANYthing, including church bells, is not good.

I think the judge was fair and very reasonable. The Bishop was out of line and if the thought about it would never have been so foolish as to take the position that he had.

silence is golden!

More liberal attacks on the churches and religion in general. At some point, it’ll be illegal to believe in God – And I’m not even a churchgoing man, but I do think it wise to encourage religious beliefs and expression. This society needs morals and the libs can’t handle that.
Too bad if they don’t like bells. The Church could tone them down at night to be friendly but I’d say it’s best to embrace your neighbor and to say to heck with the ACLU types who hate God.

The ringing of church bells is a long established practice and not a crime. It is an expression of the freedom of religion that is protected under the constitution. Remember that freedom of religion is one of the foundations that this country was established on. The actual wording of the noise ordinance the Bishop was convicted of, is so vague and open to wide interpretation it leaves the police admittedly unable to decide a reasonable point of reference to enforce. There is no mention of specific decibel rating at a given range or length and frequency of play.

First of all, 1000 flyers were distributed to the surrounding neighborhood well in advance of the bells first toll and there was no negative response from any of the neighbors at that time. Secondly, the bells were measured to be ringing at 68 decibels at the south most property line which is the property line closest to the neighbors. At the northwest most corner of the property the sound of the bells did not even surpass the ambient noise of the traffic. Please remember, volume is of great importance to the reasonability of this case and if any of you understand something about decibel ratings you will understand that the decibel level of normal conversation is about 60 decibels. Therefore it is reasonable to state that these bells are not being played loudly and they are a very pleasant sound being played for a very short duration.

As a Catholic priest, I serve a parish in Oregon, a state known for a general indifference and occasional hostility to religion. We have a 100 year old church but only began ringing the bells regularly about 10 years ago. There were many complaints–we ring on the quarter hour. To stay within the law, we adjusted the volume to within legal limits.
This article is a bit ridiculous in that it leaves out every relevant fact. The pastor must have been breaking the law in some fashion and done so flagrantly.
There must be some compromise solution, like volume control, so a church is not limitted to Sundays and holidays.
(If I had that limit placed on my church, I would celebrate every saint on the calendar with bells, which is about 200 days of the year!)

the days are Ash Wednesday ,Palm Sunday Easter Sunday, Good Friday and Christmas Day.

Our church purchased a chimes about 2 years ago. We found before we put them in that there are laws in the area that did not consider it to be against a noise ordinances. We started to play them with hymns every fifteen minutes because that was the way the machine was defaulted. We had one complaint. We changed the chime pattern and now play chimes on the half hour with a hymn several times a day. People in the area that do not attend the church have shared their appreciation for the chimes.
I think it is the responsibility of the church to make sure they know what the laws are before they put a set of chimes in. If there are no laws against, I think common courtesy should dictate how often it plays hymns, but as far as chimes sounding without songs every 15 minutes, I see nothing wrong with it. I find that people look forward to hearing the times.
I also believe that after 8pm in the evening until 8am the chimes can be silenced and probably should be.

Just because you are a church doesn’t mean that everything you FEEL like doing is protected religious expression. If your religion REQUIRED you to ring bells every half hour, that would be different. The church must obey local ordinances like cutting their grass and keeping the noise to a reasonable level.

Best thing to do when you’re up against a stubborn mule is to be stubborn as well.
Refuse to give any money for the offering; refuse to pass the collection plate (if they have one); play with marbles while he’s preaching (or even better if you have a little kid, let him cry for awhile).
And if worse comes to worse, start handing out atheist pamphlets.
The only thing churches nowadays understand is money.

This is disturbing the peace. And, shame on them.
No one person or organization is above the law. We do not allow people to break the law in the name of religion. And, disturbing the peace is a crime.
Shame on this church for disturbing the peace and quiet of its neighbors. And, shame on ADF (Allied Defense Fund) for defending the church so they can keep on disturbing the peace and quiet of the neighbors.