Today, in Phoenix, a Bishop of a church was found guilty of violating a noise ordinance. His church had been ringing bells at various times during the day. Four neighbors complained and that was all that was needed to charge him with the crime. It has the potential of having him do some jail time.
It went to trial, as he believed it to be a religious right. The neighbors testified that the bells "affected their daily routine" and "held them captive in their own homes". That is where the "weenies" part comes in. There was no evidence of decibel levels being too high, in fact, there was no evidence of a limit on decibel levels being part of the ordinance.
This story made me wonder something, would we being hearing about the same charges being filed, same guilty verdict, and a judgement coming down; if the church was an Islam Mosque and the noise was the call to prayer being broadcast over an amplification system?
What has happened to some people? What made so many, weenies? Most neighbors did not mind the bells. So, what happened to the solution of just going over to the church and asking them to turn down the volume on their electronic bells? Why are so many people bitter?
Church bells have been a tradition since before this country was founded. Why, all of a sudden, are they something that gets a pastor arrested? Why would any "neighbor" file charges over such a thing? I notice the same angry attitude when I read letters to the editor. There are a lot of people who seem to be mad and are looking for someone to take the brunt of their anger.
How tough are we as a nation when we have so many weak citizens?
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That's insane. Some people just sit around the house too much and have to come up with something to complain and gripe about. I listen to things like a train, a racecar track, a junior high playground, etc. from my house and I happen to like it. You're totally right that a)the people would not have complained if it had been an Islamic church, b)if they had, there would be no guilty verdict, and c) if there had been, the public would have run to his rescue.
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