A church leader in Arizona has been sentenced for disturbing the peace for playing a very loud recording of ringing church bells.
The presiding judge sided with neighborhood residents who said the ringing bells were a rude shock regardless of how it was meant.
Bishop Rick Painter, rector of the Cathedral of Christ the King was given a 10-day jail sentence, which was suspended, and three years probation — a misdemeanor. Painter started to play the recording of church bells every half hour every day since March 2008 on Palm Sunday.
“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,” Painter told the Associated Press. But neighbors said it became unbearable.
“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 resident Sam Jensen. Al Brooks, another resident, added “We all celebrate God, but we don’t disturb our neighbors doing it.”
The church is allowed to play the ringing bells only on Sundays and church holidays.
A church leader in Arizona has been sentenced for disturbing the peace for playing a very loud recording of ringing church bells.
The presiding judge sided with neighborhood residents who said the ringing bells were a rude shock regardless of how it was meant.
Bishop Rick Painter, rector of the Cathedral of Christ the King was given a 10-day jail sentence, which was suspended, and three years probation — a misdemeanor. Painter started to play the recording of church bells every half hour every day since March 2008 on Palm Sunday.
“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,” Painter told the Associated Press. But neighbors said it became unbearable.
“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 resident Sam Jensen. Al Brooks, another resident, added “We all celebrate God, but we don’t disturb our neighbors doing it.”
The church is allowed to play the ringing bells only on Sundays and church holidays.
