A retired pastor is being prosecuted for an alleged breach of an abortion clinic buffer zone in Northern Eire.
Pastor Clive Johnston, former President of the Affiliation of Baptist Church buildings in Eire, was cautioned after holding an open-air service on John 3:16 on the sides of an abortion clinic buffer zone close to Causeway Hospital, in Coleraine, on 7 July final 12 months.
The 76 12 months previous was later knowledgeable that he was being charged with two counts of breaking the Abortion Providers (Protected Entry Zones) Act.
He’s due earlier than courtroom in Coleraine on Friday 21 March charged with allegedly looking for to “affect” folks accessing abortion companies on the hospital and for failing to go away the world instantly after being requested to take action by police.
Simon Calvert, Deputy Director of The Christian Institute, which is defending Mr Johnston, known as the prosecution “an outrageous restriction on freedom of faith and freedom of speech”.
He mentioned that the buffer zone had successfully been used “to outlaw the Gospel”, and that the police and Public Prosecution Service had been “over-stepping the mark”.
“Ought to a regulation designed to cease abortion protests be used to criminalise gospel preaching?” mentioned Mr Calvert.
“We’ve got superb gospel freedom on this nation and we encourage Christians to make use of these freedoms in order that extra folks will hear in regards to the love of God.”
He continued, “It’s simply not cheap or rational to counsel that preaching the Gospel, with no reference to abortion, is a protest towards abortion.
“For the file, this was an open-air service held on a Sunday, with a few dozen folks in attendance, on a patch of grass, separated from Causeway Hospital by a twin carriageway. There was a picket cross, and Clive main the singing of well-known hymns on a ukulele.
“But the police summons says he ‘carried out a protest’ to attempt to ‘affect’ sufferers or workers attending the abortion clinic. That is religiously illiterate.”
Mr Johnston is being prosecuted regardless of not mentioning abortion in his sermon, nor displaying any placards referencing abortion.
If convicted, the grandfather of seven could possibly be fined hundreds of kilos.
The Christian Institute known as the fees “ridiculous” and mentioned they need to be dropped.
“Speech that has nothing to do with abortion shouldn’t be criminalised as whether it is an anti-abortion protest. That is basically unjust,” mentioned Mr Calvert.
“If prosecutors achieve getting a conviction towards Clive for preaching about God’s love, what’s going to that imply for different types of non-abortion-related speech in these zones?
“Might folks exterior a hospital protesting well being service cutbacks or junior docs’ pay be prosecuted?
“The Christian Institute is backing this case as a result of there’s a very important precept at stake. If the Gospel may be banned on this public place, the place else can or not it’s banned? The authorities don’t appear to have thought by way of the human rights implications of their determination to prosecute.”
