News Release
Abortion buffer zones: PSNI and PPS “overstepping the mark” by prosecuting retired pastor for open-air Sunday service
• Retired pastor Clive Johnston is being prosecuted under abortion buffer zones laws for an open-air sermon on John 3:16, even though abortion was never mentioned.
• A brief preliminary hearing will take place in Coleraine on Friday 21 March. The trial is expected in the next few months.
• The Christian Institute, which is supporting the pastor, asks: “Should a law designed to stop abortion protests be used to criminalise gospel preaching?”
A 76-year-old retired church pastor will be in court next week (FRI 21 MAR) for preaching one of the most famous ‘good news’ verses in the Bible in the vicinity of a general hospital.
Pastor Clive Johnston, former President of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, is facing two charges under the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act for holding an open-air Sunday service on the fringes of a buffer zone on the other side of a dual carriageway from Coleraine’s Causeway Hospital on 7 July last year.
Mr Johnston, who pastored several churches in the North West, has received a summons to appear at Coleraine Magistrates’ court on Friday 21 March accused of seeking to ‘influence’ people accessing the hospital’s abortion services and for not immediately leaving the area when asked to do so by police.
If convicted, the grandfather of seven, who has never been in trouble with the police, faces a criminal record and maximum fines totalling thousands of pounds.
Pastor Johnston is being supported by The Christian Institute, which successfully assisted Ashers Baking Co. in its landmark Supreme Court win against the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland in the ‘Gay Cake Case’.
Under legislation spearheaded by the Green Party in 2022, eight 100-150m buffer zones were created around hospitals and abortion clinics. Supporters claimed the zones were necessary to protect patients and staff from protests.
It is now a criminal offence for people to be “impeded, recorded, influenced or to be caused harassment, alarm or distress” within the areas.
Pastor Johnston is accused of ‘influencing’, not impeding or harassing.
Crucially, it is not alleged that he even mentioned abortion. Nor were there any abortion placards or banners.
For photos of Clive go to: the.ci/johnstonpics
Simon Calvert, Deputy Director of The Christian Institute, said:
“Should a law designed to stop abortion protests be used to criminalise gospel preaching?
“We have amazing gospel freedom in this country and we encourage Christians to use those freedoms so that more people will hear about the love of God. That’s why we’ve taken on this case. Prosecuting someone for preaching John 3:16 near a hospital on a quiet Sunday is an outrageous restriction on freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
“It’s just not reasonable or rational to suggest that preaching the Gospel, with no reference to abortion, is a protest against abortion. The Police and the Public Prosecution Service are over-stepping the mark. This is not what buffer zones were designed to do.
“As far as I can tell, the politicians who backed buffer zones never suggested they should be used to outlaw the Gospel. I hope some of them will come forward to confirm this. They could help to persuade prosecutors to drop this ridiculous case.
“Clive has campaigned in the past on abortion. If there had been anti-abortion placards on display, or if Clive had made side-swipes at abortion, I could understand why the police would take an interest. But abortion was not mentioned, not once, not even tangentially.
“For the record, this was an open-air service held on a Sunday, with about a dozen people in attendance, on a patch of grass, separated from Causeway Hospital by a dual carriageway. There was a wooden cross, and Clive leading the singing of well-known hymns on a ukelele. Yet the police summons says he ‘conducted a protest’ to try to ‘influence’ patients or staff attending the abortion clinic. This is religiously illiterate.”
View a redacted extract from the summons at the.ci/johnstonpics
“Speech that has nothing to do with abortion should not be criminalised as if it is an anti-abortion protest. This is fundamentally unjust. If prosecutors succeed in getting a conviction against Clive for preaching about God’s love, what will that mean for other forms of non-abortion-related speech in these zones? Could people outside a hospital protesting health service cutbacks or junior doctors’ pay be prosecuted?”
“The Christian Institute is backing this case because there is a vital principle at stake. If the Gospel can be banned in this public place, where else can it be banned? The authorities do not seem to have thought through the human rights implications of their decision to prosecute.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
• Mr Johnston was never arrested. He was simply cautioned on 7 July and later notified of prosecution by way of a summons.
• The penalty for breaking the law is a fine, not jail.
• He is not accused of harassment or impeding access to a clinic but of intentionally influencing a protected person, or being reckless as to whether his actions had that effect.
• Other successful cases supported by The Christian Institute:
www.christian.org.uk/case/ashers-baking-company/
www.christian.org.uk/case/cornerstone/
www.christian.org.uk/case/kenneth-ferguson-and-stirling-free-church/