{"id":20974,"date":"2023-12-12T16:26:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-12T15:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/?post_type=portfolio&p=20974"},"modified":"2026-01-05T10:53:02","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T09:53:02","slug":"protect-free-speech-and-thought","status":"publish","type":"campaign","link":"https:\/\/adfinternational.org\/en-gb\/campaign\/protect-free-speech-and-thought","title":{"rendered":"Protect Free Speech and Thought"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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You are currently viewing a placeholder content from YouTube<\/strong>. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.<\/p> More Information<\/a> <\/div>

Unblock content<\/a> Accept required service and unblock content<\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t
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Protect the right to think<\/span> and speak<\/span> freely.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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In Britain and elsewhere, Christians are facing fines and even arrest simply for peacefully living out their faith. So-called \u201cbuffer zones\u201d\u2014areas around abortion facilities where certain activities are banned\u2014are being used to punish acts such as holding a sign offering consensual conversation and silently praying.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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How can a thought be made criminal?<\/strong><\/p>

\u201cBuffer zones\u201d have been used to prosecuted individuals for silent prayer on the public street. But silent prayer is not a crime\u2014it\u2019s simply the act of raising one\u2019s internal thoughts to the divine. Freedom of thought is an unconditional right. Yet, these zones have made silent prayer in public spaces a punishable offence.<\/p>

\u201cFree speech, I fear, is in retreat\u201d, said U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance in an address to world leaders at a security conference in Munich in February. Among growing examples of censorship in Europe, he highlighted the case of Adam Smith-Connor, a British army veteran convicted in November 2024 for silently praying across the street from an abortion facility in Bournemouth, England.<\/p>

Reflecting on his concerns for Europe, the Vice President said: \u201c\u2026perhaps most concerning, I look to our very dear friends, the United Kingdom, where the backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular in the crosshairs.<\/p>

\u201cA little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith Connor, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and an Army veteran, with the heinous crime of standing 50m from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes, not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Support Adam, Livia, and Isabel and protect the freedom to think and speak today<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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