Court Gives Go Ahead to Church Mobile Phone Mast
An appeal to stop a mobile phone mast being erected on top of an Essex church has been dismissed by a Consistory Court.
by Daniel Blake
Posted: Thursday, August 16, 2007, 12:55 (BST)
An appeal to stop a mobile phone mast being erected on top of an Essex church has been dismissed by a Consistory Court.
The appeal was lodged because of fears that the mast, to be put up at St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Chingford, Essex, could be used to transmit pornography.
Although at an initial hearing concerns were also raised regarding various health issues surrounding mobile phone masts, it was put forward that because it was possible they could facilitate the transmission of pornography they should not be allowed to be placed on the church building.
That initial hearing was overseen by Chancellor Pullen, who refused to permit the faculty due to the fears, and the case was forwarded on to the Consistory Court.
Now the Consistory Court, consisting of three judges, has given a judgement that will be imposed nationwide.
Protesters had 3 fears in relation to the proposed masts; firstly on the issue of downloadable pornography, secondly on storage issues, and thirdly safety fears.
The court agreed that there was evidence the Government as well as the mobile phone operators had put in place measures to prohibit pornographic material being accessible by children on their mobile phones.
According to CEN, the judges said: “The mobile phone operators have introduced filtering techniques for those under 18 and there is continuous monitoring of websites by the Internet Watch Foundation so that sites with potentially illegal material can be blocked. We regard these steps as a reasonable and welcome public response to countering the risk to children.”
In addition, the English Heritage and the Victorian Society were consulted, and neither raised objections to the mast installation despite the church being a listed building.
The Court ruled that it was highly unlikely that children would be able to access pornographic material from the masts, given the measures put in place to stop this, and permitted the faculty under strict criteria.
The judges, according to CEN, insisted that the mast mobile phone operator should comply with the UK Code of Practice for the self-regulation of new forms of content on mobile phones, including applying a filter on internet content deemed unsuitable for those aged under 18.
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The comments below are readers' personal opinions and are in no way intended to reflect the editorial opinion of Christian Today.
Added: Sunday, August 26, 2007, 12:23 (BST)
Access to pornography is not the only danger that these phone masts will pose to the young. Psychologists are now reporting that mobile phone addiction looks set to become one of the biggest non-drug addictions of the 21st century.
Academics at Queensland Univerity have reported that, because handsets are carried around all day and provide instant pleasure, the risk of addiction is on a par with smoking, with heavy mobile users even displaying typical signs of "cold turkey" drug withdrawal when parted from their phones ["Mobile phones as addictive as smoking", The Scotsman, 10th May 2006]. It appears that the risk of addiction is particularly strong in teenagers for which the phone appears as a kind of "security blanket" which impoves feeling of self-worth. Teenagers are now being treated for 'texting addiction', with one teenager reportedly sending 700 text messages a week (and running up a £4,500 phone bill in a year).
The Christian Church quite rightly would not condone the selling of tobacco or drugs on its premises. Why then does it seem so keen to form such a strong relationship with the mobile phone industry which so aggressively targets teenagers with its marketing?
Debbie Price, Bristol
Added: Monday, August 20, 2007, 9:12 (BST)
Does the Consistory Court really believe that the operators will actually check the registrations of all mobiles registered to those under 18 years old and block access to these porn sites? How naive can the Church be? In the vast majority of cases, phones are purchased and registered by parents and then given to their children as presents from a very early age.
To accept the promises of an industry that have consistently lied about they’re being no adverse health effects from phone or mast emissions is laughable. If those responsible actually took the time to look at the vast amount of peer reviewed research they would see that to accept the operators position that the ICNIRP guidelines are a proof of safety is ridiculous in the extreme. ICNIRP guidelines are only concerned with the heating effects of phones and completely ignore the more dangerous non-thermal biological effects, both long and short term, from mast and phone emissions.
It just goes to show that the Church are just as avaricious as the industry and are prepared to ignore the health and well-being of the public just as long as they get their thirty pieces of silver. No wonder the general public are so disillusioned with the church.
Let us hope and pray that each local Diocese have a more enlightened approach and do not subject their parishioners to this unseen, unfelt and unheard assault on their bodies.
I suggest they look on the following web sites and get some education on this matter, before making ill informed decisions that will affect everyone’s life for many years to come.
http://www.powerwatch.org.uk/
http://www.mastsanity.org/
http://www.w-a-r-t.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
Peter Mobley, Wednesbury UK
Added: Saturday, August 18, 2007, 19:04 (BST)
porn not a problem, clergy messing with children still taking place, rev viewing child pornagrapic material all this inhouse.I suggest you sort out your own acts before trying to impose further acts of pain and suffering on others for financial gain.But hey take the silver pieces and find that the mistake you make leads to distrust and unbelievers.You have along history of getting things wrong and you still dont learn.
k kirkup, preston,lancs
