The heat is being turned up on Christians and Jews. Think this is a joke? Keep reading.
Arrested, convicted, and fined, he is now a criminal. In the quiet town of Coleraine, Northern Ireland, a retired pastor stepped onto a public sidewalk outside Causeway Hospital on a summer afternoon in 2024 with nothing more than a Bible in his hand. Clive Johnston, 78, began preaching a simple gospel sermon. He read aloud one of the most familiar verses in Scripture:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
The message contained no mention of abortion, no protest signs, and no confrontation. Yet within minutes, police approached. Johnston was ordered to stop. When he did not leave the area immediately, he was arrested. On May 7, 2026, a magistrate’s court convicted him of two offenses and fined him.
The charges stemmed from Northern Ireland’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act. The law creates 100-meter buffer zones around facilities that provide abortions. Within these zones, any act judged to “influence,” “harass,” or “distress” a “protected person” — usually a patient or staff member — is illegal. Police body-camera footage captured the officer explaining the rule: even peaceful preaching could be reckless if it might affect someone heading to the hospital. Johnston was found guilty of “influencing” within the zone and of failing to comply with a direction to leave.
District Judge Peter King delivered the verdict at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court. The prosecution did not claim Johnston shouted, blocked entrances, or even referenced the clinic’s services. His offense, in the eyes of the court, was the mere presence of Christian preaching inside the buffer zone. The Christian Institute, which supported Johnston’s defense, called the ruling a “shocking new restriction on freedom of religion and freedom of speech.”
Johnston, a lifelong Baptist minister now in retirement, expressed quiet sorrow rather than anger. “At 78 years old, I never imagined I would leave a courtroom with a criminal conviction for preaching the Christian gospel,” he said. He noted that John 3:16 is universally regarded as a message of hope and love rather than protest. “If even that can be criminalized because of where it is spoken, then how can any public expression of Christian belief be truly safe from restriction?” Johnston worries the precedent redefines peaceful witness itself as unlawful influence. “Once the state claims the authority to decide that biblical preaching is an unacceptable ‘influence,’ the space for Christians to share their faith risks becoming increasingly narrow.”
The case has drawn international attention. The U.S. State Department has monitored similar buffer-zone prosecutions across the United Kingdom, including arrests for silent prayer. Advocates argue the laws, while intended to protect access to medical services, sweep too broadly and chill fundamental liberties. Supporters of the legislation counter that vulnerable patients deserve protection from unwanted confrontation near clinics.
Critics point out that Johnston’s sermon was not directed at any individual patient; it was offered openly on a public street.
Johnston’s legal team is considering an appeal. He remains unbowed. “My encouragement to fellow Christians is not to give in to fear or discouragement,” he told supporters. “We have good news to share. We must continue to respond with grace, peace, and courage — never with anger or hostility, but with firm conviction.”
The conviction of a soft-spoken 78-year-old pastor for reading John 3:16 raises a larger question: where does the protection of one right end and the suppression of another begin? In an era of expanding “safe spaces,” Northern Ireland’s court has ruled that even the gentle proclamation of God’s love can be deemed unsafe. For Clive Johnston, the fine is modest. The precedent it sets, however, may prove far more costly to a free society that once prided itself on tolerating open-air preaching, street-corner evangelism, and the public reading of Scripture.
As Johnston leaves the courthouse, one verse still echoes beyond the buffer zone: “For God so loved the world…” Whether Northern Ireland — or any democracy — still has room to hear it may be the most important question raised by this unusual case.
Question: Would Pastor Johnston have been punished for preaching from the Koran?
Replies
Of course not. Muslims are "underpriviledged," as we all know.
The Church has kept it's mouth shut over almost all issues: begininning with Roe, the homosexual marriage, DEI, and so the role of the church to bear up the standard, has been vacated. No one should be surprised when no one has set the example of, for instance, just saying "NO." No one over there, likely, has stood up against abortion, nor made distinctions between faith and religion, or Islam vs Christianity. The ones who are supposed to bear the standard can now begin to see what happens when they just act like they have given up. The net comes closer and closer to home.