Lugares de culto y contaminación acústica. Un nuevo reto en la gestión local del factor religioso

In recent years, laws have been passed to protect the environment, including regulations on noise pollution, a type of pollution that can have many sources. Places of worship, too, have recently been the subject of controversy. Acts of worship are a collective expression of devotion and therefore are generally not silent. They can include the pealing of bells in Christian churches to announce liturgical celebrations, the muezzin’s call to prayer, etc. These uses of sound are all expressions of the right to perform acts of worship and to spread the creed of a faith and they are protected by the fundamental right to religious freedom. The relationship between noise pollution and places of worship is a question that bears on fundamental rights protected by the Spanish Constitution (SC), since the right to religious freedom must be reconciled with the physical and mental integrity of individuals in Article 15 SC, and the right to privacy in Article 18 SC. They must also be weighed against the requirements arising from the need to protect health in Article 43 SC and the right to enjoy an adequate environment for the development of the person in Article 45 SC. This paper examines the main conflicts that have occurred between these rights in relation to the question raised, taking up both the applicable rules and the case law in order to give a proper weighting to the rights in each instance.KEYWORDS: Places of worship; noise pollution; religious freedom.