Posted on 06/01/2008 9:28:39 AM PDT by knighthawk
A police community support officer ordered two Christian preachers to stop handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham.
The evangelists say they were threatened with arrest for committing a "hate crime" and were told they risked being beaten up if they returned. The incident will fuel fears that "no-go areas" for Christians are emerging in British towns and cities, as the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, claimed in The Sunday Telegraph this year.
Arthur Cunningham, 48, and Joseph Abraham, 65, both full-time evangelical ministers, have launched legal action against West Midlands Police, claiming the officer infringed their right to profess their religion.
Mr Abraham said: "I couldn't believe this was happening in Britain. The Bishop of Rochester was criticised by the Church of England recently when he said there were no-go areas in Britain but he was right; there are certainly no-go areas for Christians who want to share the gospel."
Last night, Christian campaigners described the officer's behaviour as "deeply alarming".
The preachers, both ministers in Birmingham, were handing out leaflets on Alum Rock Road in February when they started talking to four Asian youths.
A police community support officer (PCSO) interrupted the conversation and began questioning the ministers about their beliefs.
They said when the officer realised they were American, although both have lived in Britain for many years, he launched a tirade against President Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr Cunningham said: "I told him that this had nothing to do with the gospel we were preaching but he became very aggressive.
"He said we were in a Muslim area and were not allowed to spread our Christian message. He said we were committing a hate crime by telling the youths to leave Islam and said that he was going to take us to the police station."
The preacher refused to give the PCSO his address because he felt the officer's manner was "threatening and intimidating".
The ministers claim he also advised them not to return to the area. As he walked away, the PCSO said: "You have been warned. If you come back here and get beaten up, well you have been warned".
West Midlands Police, who refused to apologise, said the incident had been "fully investigated" and the officer would be given training in understanding hate crime and communication.
If the officer was not a muslim but a Christian he would have been fired on the spot. And the police would have been apologizing on their knees.
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
I guess it’s now official. Brittian considers the Gospel to be hate speech.
I have nothing against Islam, but Islam has everything against Christianity. If Islamics want to live in the West, they will play by the West’s rules.
So providing someone with information that leads to eternal life is hateful?
That’s the problem - the moslems ARE learning to play by our rules - and to use our rules against us -
witness the footwashing stations springing up (quietly) across our country, in airports and on college campuses - see the American tax dollars going to support totally MOSLEM schools - and when teachers have the gall to report it, nothing is done -
see the Ten COmmandments, crosses, all CHristian symbols being removed from the public, while moslem symbols, behaviors and dress are celebrated in public - in our schools and on the streets.
If we don’t believe that we will be ‘cared for’ in hospitals and nursing homes by robed moslems, we are not paying attention -
I don’t know about anyone else but I am terrified of what is going on in our own country AND other countries.
Funny, I've always used them as urinals.
There is a tremendous rage developing in Britain to chronic police misbehavior, this atrocity being only one small example.
Yes. They are using our rules against us - at the same time, they have the nicely stacked liberal courts in their favor, not to mention public opinion. Logic and reason are useless - the libs “feel” like one religion is the same as another.
If we asked for holy water fonts in these same places, there would be an outcry for separation of church and state. . . . . .
It wasn’t a police officer, it was a Police Community Support Officer (PCSO). Generally speaking, these roles are fulfilled by people who haven’t got what it takes to be an actual police officer.....
England has become a country of spineless appeasers.
Never again will I make fun of France.
They are also handed out as plum jobs to members of favored minority groups, so the police forces can prove their loyalty to the diversity commissars. The recipients tend to be among the more militant and outspoken members of their communities. It's quite likely this "police officer" is a committed Muslim activist in real life, maybe even an imam.
-ccm
” If Islamics want to live in the West, they will play by the West’s rules.”
Apparently not, not so long as we have scumbag quisling police and gov’t officials.
Welcome to the Dhimmihood.
>If Islamics want to live in the West, they will play by the West’s rules.<
Sorry, but you are living in Dreamland. The Muslims are going to take over the West. Furthermore the West will help them do it. After all they are a minority and they do deserve protection from the majority Christians.
I would bet this “police officer” is a committed Muslim activist in real life. Having a Christian in that position would breed distrust in the rugrider community and we can’t have that, can we?
Follow the money. All my respect. Thank you, folks over the Pond. We have it here, as well.
“If we asked for holy water fonts in these same places..”
Please no casting of pearls before swine.
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