Posted on 12/01/2006 7:43:44 AM PST by sten
Fairfax County officials have issued a ringing non-endorsement of the bells at St. John Neumann's in Reston, ruling that they must toll within the limits of the county's noise ordinance or not at all.
The Board of Supervisors asked the zoning staff this year to see whether the law could be amended to accommodate the church, whose bells ring at a volume slightly higher than the 55-decibel maximum permitted in residential areas.
<snip> follow story [here]
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The Constitution says they government cannot endorse one religion over any other, which is not the same as no religion at all.
"The Constitution says they government cannot endorse one religion over any other, which is not the same as no religion at all."
It also says it can't 'prohibit the free exercise thereof' either.
This is government interference which if forbidden by the Constitution.
Of course that doesn't matter to the 'nanny' staters and people out to 'get the church'.
OK, but why CAN'T the church just turn the volume down a little? They aren't being asked to stop.
One layer of duct tape around the clapper. It fixes everything. :)
I'm in favor of Church Bells, Muzzein, Harleys and Airplanes having the same local regulations regarding noise.
If this were a muslim call to prayer, it would be a non-issue.
I doubt if there is a volume switch on the bells.
I agree completely. There's a 55-decibel limit, and it applies to everyone (in residential areas of this town). The fact that it's a church making an audial nuisance of themselves is irrelevant. They could have solved this years ago by simply cranking down the volume to 55 decibels or less.
55 decibels at what distance from the bells?
I have lived places where the noises of the local high school football game (or college game) carried quite far.
There is no separation of church and state in the constitution, but there sure is a "free exercise" clause, which, in my opinion, should be interpreted as broadly as the "establishment" clause (although I think the establishment clause is interpreted FAR too broadly).
'Free Exercise' doesn't mean that a church can ignore the law.
Not having a copy of the law in front of me, I can only speculate that the noise level would be measured from a considerable distance (1000 feet, for instance). Otherwise, running a vacuum cleaner would be a violation.
That was my question. Just how far away are the authorities when they measured the decibel level?
There's no clapper. It would be pretty if it were real bells; these are electronic bells.
Then there is Hamtrack MI, with loud noises coming from local religious establishments which call people to pray. No noise regulation there.
Electronic bells should be illegal, regardless of decibel levels.
No noise regulations in Hamtramck? Why do I get the feeling that you haven't bothered to check?
""It's frustrating, because the sound is so much a part of our tradition," said the Rev. Thomas Murphy, the church's pastor."
Electronic bells weren't really part of my tradition.
I'm also skeptical of the Church's claim that it wasn't possible to make the bells any quieter. I'm not an audio engineer, but surely it's possible to construct some sort of structure around the speakers that would muffle the bells by a further 5 decibels.
If they are only off by 5db, nobody can tell without measuring equipment anyway. This is just Christian bashing.
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