The Christian Institute is providing support to a retired pastor from Northern Ireland who is being prosecuted for holding an open-air Sunday service within one of the Province’s eight abortion censorship zones.
Clive Johnston, a former President of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, was cautioned by police on 7 July last year after preaching on John 3:16 in the vicinity of Coleraine’s Causeway Hospital.
Although Mr Johnston did not mention abortion and was separated from the hospital by a dual carriageway, he was later charged with seeking to ‘influence’ people accessing abortion services, within the censorship zone around the hospital. If convicted, the 76-year-old grandfather of seven faces a criminal record and could be fined thousands of pounds.
‘Unjust’
The zones were introduced in 2023 after pro-abortion lobbyists claimed they were necessary to protect abortion centres’ staff and patients from protestors.
But the Institute’s Deputy Director Simon Calvert called it “fundamentally unjust” to criminalise a man for preaching, and playing hymns on a ukulele, as if he were holding an “anti-abortion protest”.
If the Gospel can be banned in this public place, where else can it be banned?
Mr Calvert warned that if the pensioner can be convicted 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.”
‘Outrageous’
Mr Calvert stated: “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.”
‘Thought police’
Last month, pro-life campaigner Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was told by a West Midlands Police Officer that her “mere presence” near an abortion centre was causing harassment.
In video footage, Miss Vaughan-Spruce, Co-Director at March for Life UK, was informed that she could not silently stand within an abortion censorship zone simply because she holds “anti-abortion” views.
Commenting on the incident, Miss Vaughan-Spruce said: “Every person has a right to stand in a public space and think what they want.”
Pro-life witness outside abortion centres, including offers of help to vulnerable women, is now banned across the UK and Ireland.
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