Phoenix Bishop Richard Painter received a suspended 10-day prison sentence and three years probation after a judge ruled last week that his church’s tolling bells violated a city noise ordinance. Although the bells at Cathedral of Christ the King typically chimed at the top of the hour from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., city residents had complained that the bells were too loud and rang too frequently. The church must now restrict its bell ringing to two minutes on Sundays and specific religious holidays with the volume level not exceeding 60 decibels, which is about as loud as a normal conversation. 

ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley called the charges ridiculous, “especially when the sound of the church’s bells did not exceed the noise level that the law allows for ice cream trucks.”

“The church bells chime a short, ancient melody of praise to God,” said Stanley.  “It’s too bad that the value of the bells is lost on many in our society.  In a busy neighborhood full of sirens, heavy traffic, and loud motorcycles, these chimes are a sound of peace that do not exceed the noise level of an average conversation.  Certainly, that should be at least as acceptable as the sound of an ice cream truck.”