UK pastor faces trial for preaching John 3:16 near abortion clinic buffer zone

A retired British pastor will stand trial and face felony expenses Wednesday for delivering a gospel sermon in a protected abortion buffer zone.

Clive Johnston, 76, faces two expenses underneath Northern Eire’s Abortion Companies Protected Entry Zones Act for holding a non secular service primarily based on John 3:16 close to Causeway Hospital in Coleraine on July 7, 2024, in response to a press release of the Christian Institute.

Prosecutors accuse Johnston of “influencing a protected particular person, immediately or not directly,” by holding a “protest” close to the hospital, the place abortions are carried out, in violation of the 2023 legislation. He’s additionally accused of failing to go away the secure entry zone when ordered to take action.

The law prohibits “anti-abortion protests and different conduct” inside a 300- to 800-foot buffer of any abortion supplier entrance or exit.

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Retired pastor Clive Johnston, 76, is dealing with expenses that he breached a secure entry zone by delivering a sermon on John 3:16 close to the Causeway Hospital, Coleraine, on July 7, 2024. (The Christian Institute)

In keeping with The Christian Institute, a British-based spiritual freedom nonprofit that’s supporting Johnston’s authorized protection, Johnston made no point out of abortion through the service and no anti-abortion indicators have been current.

The group claims the legislation is getting used to criminalize gospel preaching in Britain

“The prosecution of Pastor Johnston for preaching ‘God So Liked the World’ close to a hospital on a quiet Sunday is a surprising new try to limit freedom of faith and freedom of expression in part of the world the place outside gospel companies are a part of the tradition,” stated Simon Calvert, deputy director of The Christian Institute.

“Christians are pro-life. However preaching the excellent news about Christ just isn’t the identical as protesting abortion,” he continued, accusing police and prosecutors of “overstepping.”

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Britain’s abortion buffer zone legal guidelines have come underneath scrutiny from spiritual freedom teams, who say they criminalize spiritual expression. (Mike Kemp/In images through Getty Photos)

“There may be a necessary precept at stake,” Calvert added. “If the Gospel will be banned on this public place, the place else can it’s banned?”

He stated a couple of dozen folks attended the Sunday service, which was held close to a hedge and separated from the hospital entry street by a divided freeway.

If convicted, Johnston faces a felony file and doable fines totaling hundreds of kilos, the group stated.

He’ll seem in court docket on the Coleraine Magistrates’ Courtroom on Wednesday.

New legal guidelines in Britain ban protesters from gathering inside 200 meters of clinics the place abortions are carried out. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Photos)

“I’m grateful for the sort expressions of help I’ve obtained from members of the general public, each right here and overseas, and for the prayers supplied to God by many Christians relating to this case,” Johnston stated in a press release, including that he seems to be ahead to defending himself in court docket.

At a preliminary listening to in March, Johnston pleaded not responsible to expenses of attempting to “affect” folks accessing the hospital’s abortion companies and for failing to instantly depart the world when police requested it.

In keeping with the press launch, his lawyer, Aaron Thompson, advised the court docket that the buffer zone laws violates the safety of non secular expression and freedom of conscience enshrined in Article 9 of the European Conference on Human Rights.

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Protesters stage a protest in opposition to an ‘abortion clinic buffer zone’ outdoors the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, Scotland on September 24, 2024. (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Photos)

Johnston just isn’t the primary Christian to be prosecuted underneath comparable legal guidelines in Britain.

In February, Scottish police arrested 74-year-old grandmother Rose Docherty for providing an interview to girls contemplating abortion in a buffer zone. Prosecutors dropped the case in August however arrested her and charged her once more in September over the same incident.

In keeping with Alliance Defending Freedom Worldwide, Docherty was arrested and prosecuted for holding an indication inside 200 meters of Queen Elizabeth College Hospital that learn: “Coercion is against the law, right here to speak, solely if you wish to.” She was held for a number of hours earlier than being charged and launched on bail, the authorized group stated a press release.

The Police Service of Northern Eire stated it doesn’t touch upon named people in felony instances.

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The Crown Prosecution Service for Northern Eire advised Fox Information Digital: “After cautious consideration of all obtainable proof in a police investigation file, a call was made to prosecute a person on one cost of allegedly performing in a secure entry zone opposite to the Abortion Companies (Protected Entry Zones) Act (Northern Eire) 2023 and one cost of failing to adjust to a course underneath the identical legislation. All PPP selections are made impartially, independently and strictly in accordance with the Code of Conduct Northern Eire Prosecutors.”

“As proceedings on this matter will begin shortly, it will be inappropriate to remark additional.”