Jets and churches: There is no harm in a little competition

The Goldsboro Planning Commission says people should be allowed to build churches in the noisy areas around Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. That’s good. The fewer church-free zones, the better.

Besides, Sabbaths are relatively quiet. On most Sundays, Air Force folks are sitting there in the congregation with everyone else, not flying around during church hours.

Some preachers wouldn’t be bothered by a little noise, anyhow. They would merely consider it a challenge to their vociferant ability.

Others might find an occasional roar helpful in keeping the congregants from drifting off to sleep. They used to have deacons doing that. One or two, armed with long sticks, would reach over and tap a nodding head to bring it back to awareness. It’s said that once when a deacon conked the noggin of a sleepy parishioner, the victim turned to him and said, “Hit me again. I can still hear him.”

But that is a digression. The serious point is that there should be no harm in allowing churches in areas where the airplane noise is less than 70 decibels, as the planning commission recommended.

The members of a church don’t have to build there if they don’t want to. On the other hand, if they don’t mind hearing what Wayne County folks have come to refer to as the Sound of Freedom as a jet takes off or lands, let them.

It’s just something else to be thankful for.

Published in Editorials on March 30, 2005 10:20 AM