Court rules Phoenix church bells can ring again

Phoenix: April 22, 2010, (PCTV Newsdesk)

A federal judge ruled that the city of Phoenix cannot enforce its noise ordinance to prohibit “sound generated in the course of religious expression.”

The judge’s decision, April 20, ruled that Christ the King Church had a constitutional right to ring its bells, despite a city ordinance that prevented the pastor from doing so.

The federal judge held that the ordinance against religious bell sounds — which offered an exemption for ice cream trucks, but not for church bells — violated the Constitution.

The judge also ordered the city to pay the churches $25,000 in attorney fees and court costs.

“Churches shouldn’t be targeted and punished for ringing their bells as a public expression of faith that’s been done for centuries,” said Erik Stanley, Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel. “The federal court has made the right decision by declaring that the city’s noise ordinance violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”

Neighbors of the church had complained that the church bells were too loud and played every hour. City officials stepped in to stop the noise violation.

Three area churches sued the city last September over its vague noise ordinance, and the court ordered its suspension in March, until a final ruling was issued.  The lawsuit came about after Bishop Rick Painter of Christ the King was sentenced to jail and probation last June for violating the ordinance by ringing his church’s bells as a traditional way of praising God.

Painter was convicted and sentenced to jail for ringing church bells, even after his church went to great lengths to compromise with the few local residents who filed complaints.

City officials then notified St. Mark Roman Catholic Parish last August that the ringing of its bells could be considered in violation of the noise ordinance even though it has rung its bells for the last 20 years. First Christian Church refrained from repairing its bell tower for fear of criminal prosecution. The churches filed the lawsuit so that they could ring their bells without fear of future prosecution and criminal penalties for violating the ordinance.

The criminal case against Painter, State of Arizona v. Painter, is currently on appeal.

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