***158′,’1′,’2010-12-10 23:49:05′,’2010-12-10 23:49:05′,’

England – Street preacher who spoke out against homosexuality wins wrongful arrest case. A street preacher has been awarded £4,250 in damages after a judge ruled it was wrong of police to arrest and handcuff him after he spoke out against homosexuality.

On the other hand, it’s a tad stunning that his speech rights were actually upheld in this homo Nazi culture.  Well done for the Christian Institute and their lawyers!

The preacher said that when he had tried to speak to PC Bill after his arrest he was told to “shut it”.

Mike Judge, of the Christian Institute, said: “Street preachers may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is part of our Christian heritage. Most people just walk on by and ignore it. The police have no business arresting Christians for quoting the Bible. Whether you agree with Mr Rollins’ beliefs or not, surely we all value free speech. Christians are tired of being put on trial for their beliefs. There is clearly a problem with the Public Order Act and it needs fixing.”

Section 5 of the Public Order Act makes it an offence to use “threatening, abusive or insulting” words or behaviour in a way that could alarm or distress another person.

The law has led to the arrest of several Christians over comments they made expressing their religious beliefs.

Last year, Christian hotel owners Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang were brought before the courts after they “insulted” a Muslim guest during a conversation in which they expressed their concerns about the status of Islamic women. They were eventually found not guilty of a religiously aggravated public order offence.

Earlier in the year, Christian street preacher Dale Mcalpine was arrested after telling a community police officer that he believed homosexuality to be a sin. The charges were later dropped.

The Christian Institute is calling upon the Government to repeal the word “insulting” from Section 5 of the Public Order Act when the Freedom Bill passes through Parliament in the coming months.

Writing on the ConservativeHome website this week, Mr Judge said removing “insulting” from the law would not interfere with the police’s ability to deal with genuine public disorder.

“Free speech is a bedrock principle of any true democracy. That freedom is worthless unless it encompasses the dissenting opinion, the awkward belief, the uncomfortable truth,” he said.

“This freedom doesn’t just protect the speaker. It ensures that you, I and everyone has the freedom to hear, the freedom to listen, the freedom to weigh up competing ideas for ourselves.

“If anyone feels insulted and distressed by that, sorry but that’s the price of living in a free society.”

And how ironic it is that  we have to fight so much just to have a shred of freedom. Such a simple concept, that freedom of speech must necessarily encompass a large amount of speech that one does NOT agree with. What part of this don’t an increasingly large number of people understand?

On the other hand, how nice if I could arrest everyone who insults my intelligence…90% of the media would be behind bars… 😉

 

‘,’Small victory for freedom of speech for the common person’,’0′,”,’publish’,’open’,’closed’,”,’small-victory-for-freedom-of-speech-for-the-common-person’,”,’