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Posted on 03/03/2017 5:55:38 PM PST by marshmallow
Two street preachers have been convicted of public order offences, after a public prosecutor claimed that quoting parts of the King James Bible in the context of modern British society "must be considered to be abusive and is a criminal matter".
The prosecutor had argued that free speech must yield to multicultural reality in modern Britain, and that there was a clear threat to violence due to the words of the preachers and the criticism of Islam.
Michael Overd and Michael Stockwell were convicted today (28th February) at Bristol Magistrates' Court. On Friday (25th February) the court dismissed the case against a third man, Adrian Clark, ruling that there was no case to answer.
During the four-day trial, State Prosecutor Ian Jackson, claimed:
"To say to someone that Jesus is the only God is not a matter of truth. To the extent that they are saying that the only way to God is through Jesus, that cannot be a truth."
The men were found guilty under Section 31 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, for using "threatening or abusive words or behaviour or disorderly behaviour within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress, thereby, and the offence was religiously aggravated."
Michael Phillips, who represented the street preachers, said:
"This prosecution is nothing more than a modern-day heresy trial – dressed up under the public order act."
Free to criticise Islam?
Mr Stockwell had quoted a Bible verse in which Jesus said "I am the way, the truth and the life" and that he is the only way to heaven.
Mr Stockwell said:
"If you are trying to come through Catholicism, through Jehovah Witness, through Mormonism, the Bible says you're a thief and a liar and a thief comes to steal and destroy. But Christ......."
(Excerpt) Read more at jlpressagency.com ...
The end is near and it isn’t because of “global warming”.
There’s a reason it is no longer known as “Great” Britain....
So God is officially barred from the U.K, but Allah and Satan are free to enter.
I pray America will be spared this. We’re inching close. But hopefully it won’t happen under President Trump’s watch.
Same here. The fascist “democrats” kicked God out a long time ago.
There goes freedom of speech and freedom of religion.
Great Britain does not have a bill of rights. When the first gun control laws were passed in England and Wales, it was acknowledged that there was a traditional and historical right to bear arms for self defense.
Only a couple of British legislators said anything about it, and they were ignored.
Truly frightning.
Democrats have their reward in this life, but I doubt the next. “Whoever denies me before man, I will also deny before the Father”.
I got thrown out of a store from a self professed Christian for quoting this same verse.
Maybe we could “Lend Lease” then a backbone...
The prosecutor deserves the death penalty.
Britain needs a Muzxit.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
Unbelievable!
Woe to those who call good evil, and evil good.
> Great Britain does not have a bill of rights.
Well, the British do have bills of rights, some very old — the Magna Carta (1215), the Bill of Rights of 1689 (which contains such things as the right of Protestants to bear arms), and later additions that expanded them, both in number of rights and persons to whom they applied, e.g., the Catholics. The American Bill of Rights represented an advance on what was permitted at the time, though.
Obviously the preaching of Christianity as the only way to salvation was widely done in Great Britain for centuries. (Prohibiting it sounds unjustified to me — let the listeners make up their own minds about what to believe.) Whether in this instance civil disturbance laws are being used legally in forbidding it is doubtful. (In my opinion doing so rewards persons who threaten violence to silence opposing points of view.) I don’t know which laws and rights pertain to private worship and which to public preaching, but rejecting public expression of that traditional Christian view represents a major departure from English tradition.
> Only a couple of British legislators said anything about it [the right to bear arms], and they were ignored.
As you point out, sometimes it’s just a matter of governments ignoring rights previously guaranteed. Rights can be exercised only to the degree that people are willing to defend them (and, in the final analysis — if necessary — with force).
Our oldest ally is toast.
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