At the end of February, a judge stated that quoting the words of the Bible should ‘be considered to be abusive and is a criminal matter’.
This came about during the trial of two street preachers – Mike Overd and Michael Stockwell – who were convicted of a public order offence in Bristol. The case against a third man was dismissed.
Prosecutor Ian Jackson also told the court that ‘although the words preached are included in a version of the Bible in 1611, this does not mean that they are incapable of amounting to a public order offence in 2016.’
Modern heresy trial
During the four-day trial, Mr Jackson also argued: ‘To say to someone that Jesus is the only God is not a matter of truth. To the extent that they are saying that the only way to God is through Jesus, that cannot be a truth.’
Michael Phillips, who represented the men in court, told the court that ‘this prosecution is nothing more than a modern-day heresy trial – dressed up under the Public Order Act.’
Describing the preachers’ message, he said: ‘Every negative remark about other religions and ways of life is taken straight from those texts. The preachers do not use inflammatory language, but simply the language of the Bible. If it is the case that the Crown seeks to ban biblical Scripture, that would be a bold move.’
Free speech
He went on to argue that ‘free speech is foun-dational to the functioning of society – just as much as freedom of the press and democracy – and it must be protected at all costs.’
‘We need to stand against the movement which says it’s only ok to say things that don’t offend others. That might be nice for people in the short term, but it is not beneficial in the long term,’ he explained.
In their ruling, the magistrates said that ‘we feel it has been proved that both defendants’ behaviour went beyond preaching the virtues of their religion.’
They ordered the two preachers to pay £2,016 each, in fines and costs.
Mr Overd and Mr Stockwell are appealing the conviction.
