Department of Environment Investigates Complaints against Disruptive Church

Many people live in communities where there are churches that have no sound-proofing and their events are aired on sound systems that blast everything so loudly that they become a nuisance to those who live nearby. Such is the situation in Unitedville, Cayo where a church that reportedly set up shop not long ago, has been disrupting the small residential community. It’s a delicate situation, as one evangelical pastor we spoke with said that fellow pastors feel they have a right to carry on, while the Department of the Environment says there is nothing in law as yet to require churches to make their buildings sound-proof. The only thing to hold churches to a reasonable decibel is an apparatus that the Department of the Environment uses to measure how loud the sound is. News Five’s Marion Ali reports on a recent concern that has emerged with an evangelical church in the village of Unitedville, Cayo.  

Marion Ali, Reporting

It is not uncommon for a community to lash out against a particular church when the events they broadcast infringe upon the peace and quiet that others would like to enjoy. Such is the case in Unitedville, Cayo, that came to our attention today – an evangelical church that opened its doors not very long ago has now become a nuisance to the community.

Voice of: Pauline Lunkin, Unitedville resident

“The night before they went till one o’clock in the morning, for some reason. Normally they go on from about quarter to seven until about eight thirty, which may seem like a short time, but when you have noise at that level, five nights a week, it’s very disturbing. The man who lives on the other side of the church, he has it even worse than we do, because they are so close to his house.”

Pauline Lunkin told us that she has approached the pastor of the church, but did not get a favourable response.

Voice of: Pauline Lunkin

“I went over and asked them to turn it down. They told me they weren’t praying to humans, that they were praying to God. It’s very difficult to deal with them.”

The situation has gotten so bad that Lunkin says she fears that someone will be hurt soon, if the situation is not addressed soon.

Voice of: Pauline Lunkin

“Rocks have been thrown, windows have been broken, just because people are getting so frustrated, they refuse to listen or to even compromise. It’s just gotten to a point where I’m afraid that blood is going to be shed because people around them are getting very upset.”

Lunkin and a couple other villagers have written to the Department of the Environment seeking their assistance and today, Environmental Officer, Marlenie de la Fuente said they are looking into it.

Marlenie de la Fuente

Marlenie de la Fuente, Environmental Officer

“If it’s a noise complaint, we need to use the decibel meter, which is a device that records the volume, the extent of the volume of the noise being emitted. The device needs to be perfect so that the monitoring can be done in cases such as this, which is a noise complaint from a church. The only other agency we would coordinate with would be the police department since it is some form of nuisance as well.”

Evangelical pastor, Louis Wade, agrees that there ought to be balance between being able to worship but without affecting other people in the area.

Louis Wade

Louis Wade, Evangelical Pastor

“I wanted to start out by appealing to churches across the country, that we are a part of the community. And it should not be an adversarial relationship. It is important for us as pastors and leaders of churches, particularly evangelical churches that we try our best to keep the sound the primary aspect of the sound within our worship environment. Of course, there are from time to time special activities that the church would carry out, and we would expect that the community would know that this would not be on a regular basis, and also that it would not violate the laws of the nation.”

Wade, in appealing to his fellow church leaders, said that if the churches cannot control the sounds that emanate from their events, then the laws might be amended and enforced to keep them all in line. Marion Ali for News Five.