The Hamtramck, Michigan City Council is expected to approve an amendment which will allow houses of worship to broadcast religious announcements over outdoor speakers. The move will allow Islamic mosques to broadcast their calls to prayer five times a day. Currently, most American mosques have their calls inside, though the tradition in much of the world is to do it outside.
Local residents are threatening to challenge the amendment in court.
Interesting. Back in my old neighborhood in St. Louis, there were a number of Catholic churches which would ring the church bell at approximately 10 minutes before each Mass on Sunday. This was a direct carryover from practices in Europe, where (before the mass marketing of inexpensive clocks and watches) the church bell would be rung to call the parishoners to Mass.
Allowing the mosque to broadcast it’s prayer call over a loudspeaker is no different. Perhaps a bit more annoying, but no different. I praise the Hamtramck City Council for being open to that practice.
I heard Michael Savage ranting about this the other night on hate radio. He was trying to frame this as a church/state issue and attack the ACLU degenerates for not going after it. Of course it’s a mosque broadcasting the prayers, not city hall. So it seems like a standard noise ordinance issue to me.
I would have to agree Brian. I am certainly very pro-seperation of Church/State, and I don’t see any problem with this at all as far as C/S goes.
What I find laughable is that it is painfully obvious to those of us who are supporters of C/S see this as crying over giving non-Christian Churches equal rights to be outspoken. I have yet to hear a single peep about preachers barking at us on street corners from those same people complaining about the Muslim calls to prayer.
I don’t even think it can be considered under any local noise laws, because to me it sounds like singing, and I have lived near outdoor concerts before and not been too disturbed.
I’m not saying this about Brian, or any of the commentors here, but if this was a Catholic church doing things over a loudspeaker… I’m sure the anti-church crowds would be up in arms!
I don’t have any problem with Mosques doing this. It’s just that many liberal groups have much more tolerance for religious freedoms when those relgions aren’t Christian.
I was born and raised Catholic, so I can understand your point, but the fact remains that this country is currently dominated by Christians. So fairness can only flow in one direction, allowing other religions equal freedoms. Public displays on taxpayer-funded property is out, public displays on private lands is acceptable, no matter who it is, even the KKK (???)