Quiet!
 
A church’s joyful noise sounds like a racket to the neighbours Published: The Globe and Mail, February 13, 1993, FOCUS BY DEBORAH JONES/HALIFAX TERRY Smith, pastor of the Revival Tabernacle Church near downtown Halifax, opens the service on this Sunday evening with lively readings from the Bible. When the congregation is warmed up, he moves from the pulpit to the organ and jubilantly belts out old-time evangelical hymns. Soon 75 congregants are swaying, dancing and, arms raised to heaven, belting out a bluesy rendition of Showers of Blessing that lasts for 20 minutes. No one appears the least subdued by the fact that they have had charges of breaking Halifax's noise bylaws hanging over them for close to 10 months. To be sure, this is pentecostalism in full voice; a dour Ash Wednesday among High Anglicans it is not. Revival Tabernacle is a branch of the Missouri-based United Pentecostal Church and its members hold firmly to the belief that they should make a joyful sound unto the Lord. They also believe the Holy Spirit makes His presence known through his worshippers' ability to speak in tongues. Tonight, there is no speaking in tongues among the faithful, most of whom are black. But calls of "Praise the Lord!" and "Hallelujah!" ring out. Revival Tabernacle, led by the Nova Scotia-born Pastor Smith and his wife Rev. Linda Smith, is a fairly busy church. It holds two worship services on Sunday - this is the second one - and is open on four other nights of the week. Its evening Sabbath services start at 7:30 p.m. and last until 11 or later, often finishing with a robust rendition of Oh Canada in honour of the giant flag that is the main decorative feature of the sanctuary. THE clamour in the church has not gone unnoticed by neighbours. On this Sunday, the doors and windows of Revival Tabernacle have been shut tight against one of the coldest nights of the year, muffling the sound out on the street. In the summer, say the neighbours, it's a different story. "When you're sitting upstairs in your living room, you might as well be in the church with them," says Michael Harvey, who owns and lives in a small apartment building about four metres away. The sounds are "not the kind of thing you can ignore or treat as background ambient noise." Mr. Harvey, an architect, bought his building 3 years ago and transformed it into three apartments and offices for his firm. Now he fears his tenants may leave because of Revival Tabernacle's boisterous worship. "It's not like, for instance, hymn singing or even gospel singing," he says. "It's quite disruptive - chanting and calling. (Pastor Smith) is good at what he does. He's one of these tough-type preachers that get people fired up. That's fine if you're into it. If you're not, and you're trying to live and enjoy a home, it's difficult." Since Revival Tabernacle moved into an old theatre in the mixed-use neighbourhood a year ago and renovated it as a church, several other neighbours have become so irritated that they have complained to police. In May and June, officers charged the church and Pastor Smith with using a public-address system without a licence and disturbing the peace and tranquillity of the city. In court, Simon Gaum, the church's lawyer, argued that the charges should be quashed because city bylaws are vague and run the risk of being applied unevenly. He also cited guarantees of freedom of religion and expression contained in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. He said he was unable to find any other instance of a Canadian church being charged with making too much noise. To Rev. Linda Smith, the publicity surrounding the noise charges has brought an unexpected benefit: The membership roll has grown to 92 from 75 since the local media picked up on the case last spring. "It's been a blessing," she says, smiling serenely. And Pastor Smith (he does most the preaching; his wife looks after births, deaths and legal matters in the church) disputes testimony by neighbours that "loud wailing" and noise sometimes continued until 1 a.m. He says most evening services end at 11 p.m. As for the wailing, he says, "If there's wailing, I think (the neighbours are) making reference to prayer. Screaming and yelling, that's just one person's definition of what others do. There's a difference between nonsensical yelling and praising God." He said the church received no warning of legal action until a police officer walked in during service one night and issued tickets. "Some of the people asked him, 'Aren't you aware of all the crime that's going on? Why are you giving us a ticket?' " says Pastor Smith, incredulously. "To call a church service a disturbance I believe is going to an extreme. What I call a disturbance is a riot." Tom Sinclair-Faulkner, a professor of religion at Dalhousie University, says the complaints against Revival Tabernacle are merely a repetition of the reaction to the Salvation Army in Halifax a century ago, and are now comparable to complaints in England about the Muslim call to prayer in urban areas more accustomed to church bells. "One hundred years ago the Salvation Army was on the (religious) fringe in Halifax. Newspapers were filled with complaints about the licentious character of their meetings. When their band played in the streets, the powers-that-be would arrest them. Now the Salvation Army is mainstream. When they take their brass band out on the street corner, neighbours are not going to complain the way they would about a bunch of punk rockers putting out the same number of decibels," says Prof. Sinclair-Faulkner. "We really don't have pluralism in Canadian religious life - we have rules of etiquette." For Mr. Harvey, the issue is simple neighbourliness. "There are churches across the country plop in the middle of neighborhoods that aren't disruptive. Churches are generally considered good neighbours." He is angry that church members last year claimed racism was at the bottom of the complaints. "When you hear them talk racism, which has nothing to do with it, it's not easy to handle," he says. "What we're faced with is something that will, in theory, go on forever. When you talk to Terry Smith about the noise, his attitude is 'if you don't like it, move.' " Says Prof. Sinclair-Faulkner, "Mainstream churches fill the air with the sound of chimes when people are trying to sleep, but nobody complains." He says independence is part of the identify of people like those who are attracted to the Revival Tabernacle Church. "These are not people who have put a lot of energy into fitting into the established powers of society. They don't constantly engage in the dance of etiquette that goes with the ecumenical theme. And it takes a lot of courage sometimes." Postscript: On Thursday, Provincial Court Judge Patrick Curran found Pastor Smith and his church guilty of disturbing the peace and tranquillity of the city, and issued fines of $500 each or seven days in jail. Halifax bylaws do not interfere with freedom of religion, Judge Curran said, but religious practice is private and voluntary and "not to be inflicted on others against their will." He said "no one can be required to tolerate, in his own home, loud and forceful preaching, emotional orations and noise that pours through closed doors." Church members seem unrepentant. "We haven't broken any bylaw," Rev. Linda Smith said after the trial. "We're living our life. If you were living the lifestyle some of our neighbours live and heard us preaching against sin, you'd find it noisy also." About 20 members of the congregation left the court singing, "We're happy people, yes, we are." Deborah Jones is a regular contributor to The Globe and Mail. Copyright Deborah Jones 1993 About this website: Text and photos by Deborah Jones except where otherwise noted. Please contact me for reprint rights. All material copyrighted ../About.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0
Give us that old-time religion --  but quietly
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