Church, State & Punk Rock. Thoughts?

BDx13 - 2-1-2007 at 12:09 PM

this is from punknews...

The Trinity Methodist Church recently filed suit against the city of Albany which has been preventing the church from hosting rock shows. The group is suing in federal court alleging unconstitutional governmental interference in religion.

They are asking the judge to reopen the doors for the shows, which were halted in July after neighbors complained about noise and kids hanging out on the street. Some bands at the church played punk rock, sometimes with offensive lyrics, which neighbors later cited as a rationale for their opposition.

A professor of constitutional law from the local university weighed in:

"The constitution's free exercise of religion puts the burden on the state to prove why they should be able to invade the sanctuary of the church."

The shows were all-ages and alcohol free and hosted under the name "New Age Cabaret." A search through our database shows a diverse number of bands and genres that came through the venue.

The case represents more than just this one city and church however, since in many smaller towns, local churches are the only all-ages venues available to touring bands and are vital to the development of both local and touring acts. If cities could prevent churches from hosting punk and hardcore shows in particular, many kids would have no local venue at all.

http://www.crisny.org/not-for-profit/trinumc/

CR83 - 2-1-2007 at 12:15 PM

Boy I can almost see it from both sides I guess. One thing is that the state shouldn't be able to step in a tell a church what to do as long as it is a recognized religion I guess. One caveat is that it is creating a public nuissance. It shouldn't have been based off of what type of music, but off of what type of public bother is has become.

The other thing is how is a touring musical act a part of the "Sanctuary of the church"?

Kid Ugly - 2-1-2007 at 01:08 PM

The church doesn't give two shits about punk rock or freedom of speech (except when it comes to them). They just miss the checks.

defstarsteve - 2-1-2007 at 06:51 PM

a church can be in violation of noise laws
if there is some church blasting hymns or punk at a certain level within a certain range of houses then yeah they need to shut it down or be zoned as a proper business like any other live music venue and pay some damn taxes on all that free god money

DaveMoral - 2-1-2007 at 07:25 PM

The question is, just how loud was it? And is it really that the neighbors didn't like seeing kids with "funny clothes" in their neighborhood?

In my experiences, churches have been a pretty reliable venue for all ages shows and keeping a clean and safe atmosphere for all involved.

clevohardcore - 2-2-2007 at 12:32 AM

Putting shows on in a church is stupid anyway.

clevohardcore - 2-2-2007 at 12:33 AM

a church is a place to worship and not a place for 14 year oolds to act cool at.

RomanticViolence - 2-2-2007 at 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by defstarsteve
a church can be in violation of noise laws
if there is some church blasting hymns or punk at a certain level within a certain range of houses then yeah they need to shut it down or be zoned as a proper business like any other live music venue and pay some damn taxes on all that free god money

Good post.

That is all

JawnDiablo - 2-2-2007 at 04:24 PM

GOD HATES US ALL!