Many churches are used as sites for mobile phone masts. They are
usually located in population centres with high towers or spires,
making them ideal for mobile phone companies. The revenue from the
mobile phone operators is useful to churches.
One Church of England parish, St Peter and St Paul in Chingford,
applied for permission to have a T-Mobile mast installed on its
tower. Church of England churches must obtain the permission of the
chancellor of the diocese before a mast can be installed.
Church court the Chelmsford Consistory Court denied the parish
the right to install the mast. It said that some of the material
transmitted would be pornography, and that this was not an
appropriate use of a church's facilities.
The parish appealed the decision to the Arches Court of
Canterbury, one of the Church of England's two appeals courts. The
other is the Arches Court of York and their jurisdiction is
geographical. The ruling cannot be appealed further.
The Dean of the Arches Court of Canterbury said that the church
should be allowed to host the mast because he believed that the
benefit of improved 3G mobile access for residents of the area
outweighed the potential downside of the transmission of
pornography.
The Dean pointed out that the mobile phone companies monitored
their systems to keep those they knew were under 18 away from
pornographic material and to block access to illegal material.
Pornography that might be accessed might be deplorable to
Christians, he said, but it would not be illegal.
He said that to hinder access generally because of the
possibility that it would be used for purposes which members of the
church might object to would be unbalanced. He gave permission for
the mast to be installed.
The Church of England has a national policy of supporting the
installation of masts and has even appointed a firm on a national
basis to install any masts that are approved.
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