Posted on 07/06/2017 7:48:01 PM PDT by marshmallow
Two Christian street preachers have been found not guilty of inciting public disorder at Bristol Crown Court. In February, Michael Stockwell and Michael Overd were convicted at Bristol Magistrates Court of an offence under the Crime and Disorder Act, after police claimed that the crowd around them became disorderly as a result of their preaching. They appealed to the Crown Court and after a 3 day hearing on Friday were found not guilty of religiously aggravated harassment.
Barnabas Fund provided an expert witness, who demonstrated that the content of their preaching was largely quotations from the King James Bible (the “Authorised Version”). However, at their trial in February, the lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) claimed that this was irrelevant, arguing that publicly quoting from the King James Bible in modern Britain should "be considered to be abusive and is a criminal matter".
Serious questions must now be asked about the conduct of both Avon and Somerset Police, who arrested the preachers, and the CPS. Barnabas Fund has seen the official transcript of the video recording that the two men made of their preaching. The preachers were clearly attracting a crowd of disorderly hecklers who were swearing at and abusing them. Yet none of the hecklers were arrested – only the street preachers who, whilst robust in stating the Biblical teaching, were respectful towards those asking questions.
(Excerpt) Read more at barnabasfund.org ...
This is in the UK, in case there's any confusion.
Don’t try and read the “Authorized Edition” (King James’) bible in England!
God is good.
***arguing that publicly quoting from the King James Bible in modern Britain should “be considered to be abusive and is a criminal matter”. ***
From my Oxford KJV...
Cum Privelegio
All rights in respect of the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible are vested in the Crown in the United Kingdom and controlled by Royal Letter’s Patent.
We were in London, 1996, and some preacher was doing his thing at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park, Bible in hand. Aside from a few listeners, no one else thought anything of it. Have things there really changed that much?
One of my summer childhood memories was sitting on the curb listening to the street preacher. I don’t think they do that in Brooklyn anymore.
One wonders if the CPS would have had the intestinal fortitude to arrest muslim street preachers under similar circumstances.
James R. McClure Jr.
Jeffersonian Anti-Federalist Democrat
When I worked in Winston-Salem, there was a Bible College in town. They used to require students to do street preaching downtown at lunchtime.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.