US Christians debate mast issue

Christians in the US village of Schaumburg, Illinois, are debating the ethics of installing a mobile phone mast in their church's cross.

According to the town's local paper, telco Sprint has offered to pay Our Redeemer's Methodist Church an undisclosed sum of money to encase a cellular antenna inside the church cross.

Church leaders were intrigued by the idea because Sprint offered to replace the old cross and pay for much needed church programs. The new cross would be the same height as the existing one, but six inches wider.

The Rev Bill Shaw, senior pastor at Our Redeemer, said the decision was not an easy one, as there were theological implications for packing a cross - meant to represent the redemption of humanity - with mobile phone equipment.

In the end, church members voted in favour of the antenna only after a long discussion, Shaw said. Practical concerns as well as theological won the day, he added, since the church needed the extra cash offered by Sprint.

Similar schemes have been tried in the UK by placing masts in church steeples, and have had a mixed reaction from churchgoers. But so far no one has attempted to install one inside an actual cross.