MUSLIMS OFFENDED AT HEARING
BIBLE VERSES, SO CHRISTIANS PROSECUTED, Government
seeking to 'enforce the Islamist agenda', by Bob Unruh, 7/6/17, WND
After Muslims had a violent reaction
as two street preachers cited quotes from the Bible, the preachers were brought
to court by prosecutors in the United Kingdom – and now they’ve both been
cleared of charges.
However, a British Christian
organization warns the message the prosecutors sent throughout the dispute
is alarming: Submit to Islam’s Shariah law, and the government will
“enforce the Islamist agenda of prohibiting any criticism of Islam.”
According the international
Christian ministry Barnabas
Fund, street preachers Michael
Stockwell and Michael Overd were convicted in a lower court but then found not
guilty of inciting public disorder at Bristol Crown Court.
The lower-court decision, from
Bristol Magistrates Court, found them guilty of an offense under the Crime and
Disorder Act, and although the appeals court cleared them, the message left by
the prosecution is concerning, the Christian organization explained.
The two were confronted and badgered
by passersby while they were preaching and citing quotations from the King
James Bible, the group said.
“At their trial in February, the lawyer
for the Crown Prosecution Service 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,'” the ministry explained.
“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,” the group charged.
“However, even if people express
their ideas very strongly, or even offensively, they are still entitled to
freedom of speech. Not all Christians will be comfortable with the style of the
men’s preaching. However, if those people are silenced, the next to be silenced
will be people saying the same things in a gentler way.
“It is also clear from the
transcript of the preaching that much of the heckling centered on questions
about Islam, and the question must be asked as to whether some hecklers were
deliberately seeking to set them up. If so, then what the police have
effectively done by arresting the preachers is to enforce the Islamist agenda
of prohibiting any criticism of Islam.
“The actions of the Crown
Prosecution Service (CPS) must also come under scrutiny. If the CPS felt that
the manner in which the men were delivering their preaching was causing a
disturbance, such as by being too loud, then they could have prosecuted them
under nuisance laws. Instead, they chose to prosecute them for the content of
their preaching.
Consequently, as the preachers’
defense solicitor Michael Phillips commented in February, the case had become
in effect a ‘modern day heresy trial’,” the report said.
Barnabas Fund noted the case risked
a decision that would have created a standard of censorship “on the public
reading of the Bible.” Another
organization, Christian Concern, likewise
expressed dismay about the treatment of the Christians.
The two men were arrested in July
2016 for preaching at a Bristol shopping center. Christian Concern noted video
evidence submitted to the court shows Overd being interrupted and forcibly removed
from the scene by a police officer.
“But the court found Mr. Overd and
Mr. Stockwell 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.'” They
originally were each ordered to pay more than $2,000 in fines and costs.
Andrea Williams, chief executive of
the Christian Legal Centre, expressed gratitude for the appeals ruling,
especially since this is a time in which Christians “are becoming increasingly
fearful about expressing their beliefs in the public space.”
Stockwell, in a statement, said he
was shocked that God’s message “is now considered by some to be hateful and
dangerous.” He continued, “People should be free to express their beliefs in
public, without risk of harm, violence or other repercussions.”
It’s not the first time U.K. courts
have presumed to dictate religious speech. Overd
also was involved in a dispute several years ago in which a trial judge stunningly told him he couldn’t
quote Leviticus to explain Christian perspective on homosexuality.
Records from that case show it was
Taunton Crown Court Circuit Judge David Ticehurst who reversed the outcome. Overd had been convicted by a judge,
Shamim Ahmed Qureshi, who also served with the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal, the
overseer of the nation’s Shariah courts. Qureshi had taken the “extraordinary
step” of determining and announcing in court which Bible verses “it was
appropriate for Mr.Overd to use in his public explanation of the Bible’s
teaching on homosexual practice,” the organization reported.
Qureshi told Overd he should not
have referenced Leviticus Chapter 20 in explaining the biblical view on
homosexuality, but “clearly indicated that he could have used Chapter 18 of the
book.” Overd had been taking part in street-preaching activities in Taunton,
Somerset, at the time. Homosexuals filed the complaint, alleging Overd had
“offended” them.
http://www.wnd.com/2017/07/muslims-offended-at-hearing-bible-verses-so-christians-prosecuted/
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