3 ms·

I would vote for a ban on regular church bell noise as well if I had the choice. In Germany they also ring at ungodly hours in the morning for most programmers.

by cm3 10y ago

I would vote for a ban on regular church bell noise as well if I had the choice. In Germany they also ring at ungodly hours in the morning for most programmers. Just as you wouldn't be able to pass a ban on a mosque's call for prayer in Turkey, you'll have a hard time enforcing a ban on church bells in Europe. That's the reality and I wish religious freedom would extend to not being bothered by any other religion's ritualistic call for prayer/mass. How is this in the USA? Outside certain districts in Boston, NY or the bible belt, I have this feeling there isn't regular church bell ringing going on, is there? Given the many flavors of Christianity in the US and their possibly differing schedule, this could easily turn into an annoyance, I would guess.

zo1 10y ago
I'm an atheist and I personally don't mind the sound of church bells. As part of general western culture, we associate them with certain things. Stuff like weddings, and to me, I always think of medieval Europe when I hear them. Monasteries, monks, those sorts of things. However, in contrast, a giant megaphone blaring quite "whiny" or "whingy" (for lack of a better way of describing it) gibberish doesn't evoke anything remotely that normal. The sound itself, without any sort of religious connotation is annoying. I suppose I would find it just as annoying if the sound of church-bells were played over a megaphone, 5 times a day.
- cm3 10y ago
  I have experience with both and I certainly don't find anything comforting in church bell ringing, and frankly I'm sure people in Turkey (atheists included) are used to muezzins and generally not annoyed by it, just as I am to church bells and live with it because I have no choice. That said, I believe that the way you describe it is how you perceive it, but from my experience I wouldn't call it whiny/whingy. It's short, in Arabic, and basically a singing version of call to prayer. Just as church bells have some form of tune to them, so does the muezzin's call to prayer. If we are to name what one might find personally comforting, I wouldn't mind daily gospel music played for the neighborhood by the local church, but I'm sure someone will find that discomforting as well. And to be clear, I am not a Christian. My main objection is that if you have religious freedom, then either all churches/mosques/temples get the same freedom to call to prayer or none does. The exclusivity of church bells in Europe and muezzins east of Europe is the basic conflict of fairness here. So, realistically, given that we cannot allow them all, including pagans, satanists (death metal?), the most logical conclusion would be to generally disallow, with exceptions where the population insists on it.
back_beyond 10y ago
In the Bible Belt, at least, I'd suspect that the majority of the population does not live close enough to a church to hear its bells.
Al-Khwarizmi 10y ago
Spain is a quite religious country as far as western Europe goes, and problems with church bells are rare. Most cities and towns I know have by-laws prohibiting noise over a certain amounts of dB during the night (typically 0:00 to 8:00 or so), churches just respect it and don't ring bells during that time. There have been cases of some churches insisting on ringing bells in the night, losing in court and being forced to stop.

by cm3 10y ago

zo1 10y ago

I'm an atheist and I personally don't mind the sound of church bells. As part of general western culture, we associate them with certain things. Stuff like weddings, and to me, I always think of medieval Europe when I hear them. Monasteries, monks, those sorts of things. However, in contrast, a giant megaphone blaring quite "whiny" or "whingy" (for lack of a better way of describing it) gibberish doesn't evoke anything remotely that normal. The sound itself, without any sort of religious connotation is annoying. I suppose I would find it just as annoying if the sound of church-bells were played over a megaphone, 5 times a day.

cm3 10y ago
I have experience with both and I certainly don't find anything comforting in church bell ringing, and frankly I'm sure people in Turkey (atheists included) are used to muezzins and generally not annoyed by it, just as I am to church bells and live with it because I have no choice. That said, I believe that the way you describe it is how you perceive it, but from my experience I wouldn't call it whiny/whingy. It's short, in Arabic, and basically a singing version of call to prayer. Just as church bells have some form of tune to them, so does the muezzin's call to prayer. If we are to name what one might find personally comforting, I wouldn't mind daily gospel music played for the neighborhood by the local church, but I'm sure someone will find that discomforting as well. And to be clear, I am not a Christian. My main objection is that if you have religious freedom, then either all churches/mosques/temples get the same freedom to call to prayer or none does. The exclusivity of church bells in Europe and muezzins east of Europe is the basic conflict of fairness here. So, realistically, given that we cannot allow them all, including pagans, satanists (death metal?), the most logical conclusion would be to generally disallow, with exceptions where the population insists on it.

back_beyond 10y ago

In the Bible Belt, at least, I'd suspect that the majority of the population does not live close enough to a church to hear its bells.

Al-Khwarizmi 10y ago

Spain is a quite religious country as far as western Europe goes, and problems with church bells are rare. Most cities and towns I know have by-laws prohibiting noise over a certain amounts of dB during the night (typically 0:00 to 8:00 or so), churches just respect it and don't ring bells during that time. There have been cases of some churches insisting on ringing bells in the night, losing in court and being forced to stop.