A criminal case against a Christian a street preacher in Great Britain who was arrested in 2020 for allegedly inciting hatred, was thrown out.
British prosecutors alleged that John Dunn, a 55-year-old special forces veteran of the British Army who preached openly in the southwestern English town of Swindon for 15 years, was guilty of inciting hatred when he insulted members of the public by exposing homosexuality, according to London’s Christian Law Center.
Dana was scheduled for another court hearing on November 13, where he could face a conviction, but the case was dropped after the women who complained against him refused to take part in the case.
In the incident on 1 November 2020 that led to his arrest, Dunne was preaching in Swindon town center when two women walked past him holding hands and he said: “I hope you’re sisters.”
The British government alleged that John Dunn, a 55-year-old veteran of the British Army Special Forces, was guilty of inciting hatred. Dan’s case has since been thrown out.
(Christian concern)
When the women told him they were in a same-sex marriage, Dunn replied, “That says it in the Bible that homosexuals “will not inherit the kingdom of God,” quoting the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians. Later, the woman reported him to the police.
When Dunn volunteered to go to a local police station for questioning about the incident, he was told that if he tried to leave the station he would be arrested under the Public Order Act, which prohibits threatening or abusive words or behavior during hearings. or the appearance of someone who is “likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress thereby”.
Dana’s legal counsel, who was retained by the Christian Legal Center, argued that he said what he did to the women out of spiritual concern for them.
They also argued that Dan’s interactions with law enforcement violated his human rights under Articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which relate to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and expression.
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John Dunn, a 55-year-old special forces veteran of the British Army, preached openly for 15 years in the city of Swindon in southwest England.
(Alan Baxter via Getty Images)
Strong opinions should be protected “even if they cross the sensitivities of the majority of the population,” they argued, and that “the mere communication of biblical truth” cannot meet the threshold of illegal hate speech.
Lawyers representing the government reportedly argued that the charges against Dunn were “out of proportion” to his words, and used Old Testament teachings on the death penalty to argue that “there are references in the Bible that are no longer appropriate for today’s society and that would be considered offensive if said in public.’
Andrea Williams, executive director of the Christian Law Center, which represented Dan, praised the court’s outcome in a statement provided by Fox News Digital, but said the prosecution’s treatment of the Bible in the case is “deeply troubling.”
Open-air preaching has a long history in Great Britain. Pictured is a Christian preacher at the entrance to Hyde Park in London in the 1930s.
(API / Contributor via Getty Images)
“The Bible and its teachings are the foundation of our society and provide many of the freedoms and protections we enjoy today,” Williams said. “It’s amazing that prosecutors, speaking on behalf of the state, could say that the Bible contains offensive words that, when spoken publicly, constitute a criminal offence.”
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“View from v [government] was that the Bible is offensive and contains illegal language that should not be shared publicly,” she wrote. “‘Offense’ is a completely subjective concept and can be easily manipulated to shut down viewpoints that people simply do not like. Any suggestion that there is a right not to be offended must be strongly resisted. In a modern democracy, we need freedom of discussiondispute and disagree.”
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Arrests of street preachers in the UK for hate crimes, breach of the peace or other similar offenses have repeatedly made international headlines in recent years.
In October 2022, Hatun Tash was awarded £10,000 compensation for her repeated arrests by the Metropolitan Police in London.
(Christian concern)
Most recently, the Metropolitan Police in London apologized in October and paid £10,000 in damages to Hatun Tash, a Christian evangelist who challenged her multiple arrests in 2020.
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Tash, who belongs to a group called Defending Christ Criticizing Islam (DCCI), has spoken frequently at Speaker’s Corner in London’s Hyde Park and has at times drawn backlash for publicly discussing Islam and the Koran, including one incident in which she was reportedly stabbed in the face by Islamic extremists.
