A friend of mine was recently interviewed under caution by the police. His offense? Reading the Bible aloud in a calm voice and steady tone outside a railway station. He was left waiting to hear back for one month and then advised in writing to “be careful with what you say in future when reading outside”. The police were trying to grapple with whether his reading was “abusive” and harassing under the law. The result was chilling.

While nearly all street preacher police cautions and arrests eventually come to nothing, a worrying trend has emerged over the years. The police have seemingly maintained an overly cautious approach to suppressing “potentially offensive” words in public while they take time to interpret the meaning of the law.

At present, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (“PCSC”) Bill, due to be debated in the House of Lords in September, will only compound these issues.

A major theme of Part 3 of the PCSC Bill is the interaction of the police and citizens in relation to public demonstrations and protests. Triggered by highly disruptive protests that have been organised around the country in recent months and years, often involving some element of criminal damage, clauses in the Bill aim to give police additional powers to more effectively respond.

Continue reading “Censorship by default” by Elizabeth Francis (The Critic).

Are you free to speak in public, even if I find you insulting?

According to a coalition of unlikely allies, including Christians, secularists, comedians, and LGBT activists, you are, and have been since 2014. Back then, the coalition successfully campaigned against the criminalisation of insulting speech in section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, which made it an offence to use “threatening, insulting or abusive” words or behaviour.

The campaign, which ran under the banner “Feel free to insult me“, successfully persuaded Parliament that the value of freedom of speech to a free and democratic society was such that even shocking, offensive or disturbing speech should be robustly protected, rather than criminalised, in the public square.

Continue reading “The free speech of Christians in the public square must be protected” by Jeremiah Igunnubole (Christian Today).

“Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.”

It’s a quote popularly attributed to St Francis of Assisi and typically used to signify that speech is a less preferable communicative tool to the Christian than acting out one’s beliefs through deeds.

Except the quote is, in fact, misquoted.

In reality, St Francis encouraged friars not to preach anything contrary to the teachings of the Church and also to “preach by their deeds” – to make sure that their actions matched their speech. The instruction was not to remain silent; not to build a needless dichotomy between the two outward expressions of faith.

Of course, if Christians don’t live by their own words, hypocrisy sorely undermines the truth of their message. But the call to speak, and speak out, is central to Christian living. From cover to cover of the Bible, the direction is inescapable. The command “proclaim” is featured over thirty times in the gospels alone. The audience? “Every nation and tribe and language and people.” To practice the Christian faith is to be a Christian in public. No lights hidden under bushels.

Continue reading “Street preachers keep being arrested. More must be done to protect free speech” by Lois McLatchie (Premier Christianity).