Ohio church's neighbours say it's disturbing the peace
Offline MASSILLON, Ohio (AP) - Is it worship? Or disturbing the peace?
Neighbours of Worshippers of Christ the Warrior King Church have petitioned the city, saying screams and sounds of glory and praise coming from the building are a nuisance.
But church members contend they're being harassed because of how they worship.
"Sunday morning is God's day of worship," Rev. Troy Sowell said. "I'm not going to tell this congregation, 'You're being too loud."'
Sowell says he's open to finding a solution but is not going to forfeit his right to worship God.
Police responded to noise complaints three consecutive days during a revival last year, after the congregation moved in.
"They have a sound system over there that is very loud," said neighbour Reginald Winters. "I'm in my house with the door shut, and literally, my windows are vibrating in my house. ... This year, it's started right back up."
The church closed its doors and windows, but the complaints have continued, said Jerena Copeland, associate pastor.
Sowell said light bulbs have been stolen from the building and beer bottles have been wedged beneath the tires of members' vehicles.
Church members recently met with Police Chief Robert Williams.
"I'm still hoping for an amicable, diplomatic solution," said Williams, an ordained minister and the son of a pastor.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2007/04/27/4135572-ap.html
Enlightened Atheist, Gaming God.
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Why do they need to be loud like that? Is God going deaf?
Yeah, isn't their a law regarding disturbing the peace. If I cranked up my stereo system, isn't their laws if its too loud (im pretty damn sure there is at night time, tho im not sure where the cutoff is). If this was during the middle of the day, I would be annoyed. If this was at night or waking me up, I would be furious and heads would roll.
Like Matt said however, is there a need to be royally loud? That would be ironic. "God is all powerful, except hes hard of hearing from all the screams and prayers."
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I don't know about other states, but there are noise violations laws in NJ. I believe you can't make a lot of noise between 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. or something like that. So technically the church is probably in its right to be loud. I actually lived next to a small baptist church. You could hear the singing and the drums but it wasn't too bad so we never complained. I have a feeling this is one of those huge stadium churches though. That might be a different story, then.
If god takes life he's an indian giver
Maybe, tho it could be earlier than 6am (which personally on a Sunday, if someone wakes me up before 10 heads roll). And still, the issue is if they are being loud enough to truly rattle windows, then its too loud. I would say that a good counter to this if the police refuse to either enforce the law (if there is one) or the church refuses to lower the volume is to get someone who has a sweet stereo system in their car, and play Marilyn Manson and see what they think ;p
However, others may be nicer than I am.
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Rattling windows is definitely unacceptable, I'll agree to that.
I also think it would be VERY funny to start blasting Marilyn Manson. I do believe there are a few more out there that are even more offensive as well.
But then again, that might just start a pissing match.
If god takes life he's an indian giver
indeed im sure there is, however assuming that Ohio has some laws related to this, Manson (or others) yelling "obcenities" may classify as worse than just the noise itself. Also, in hindsight at least here in California, there are laws on the noise (be it music or exhaust) that can be from a vehicle so it would be better to eliminate the car and just use a huge stereo.
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Some of my friends used to have a church on the other side of their back fence. If I was ever there around 7am on Sundays (once or twice I was), the damned bell would be ringing for 5-10 minutes bloody loudly. I'd hate that, not being able to sleep in on weekends because of a frikken church bell, let alone any crap they may have going on inside.
Heck, the one 400m down the road from me was bad enough with its bell echoing up the road. VERY quiet in comparison (so much so that traffic often drowned it out) but still woke me a few times.
I've been waiting for people to whinge about the noise, but they probably know the noise laws very well and skirt around just inside of them.
Organised religion is the ultimate form of blasphemy.
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