The United Kingdom continues course in their quest to obliterate any remnants of freedom of speech for a people that once loved Christ.
Retired Pastor Clive Johnston was convicted of breaching a “safe access zone” outside Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, on July 7, 2024, under the Abortion Services Act of 2023.
Per Fox News, this law uses sweeping language to guard women seeking abortions. “Northern Ireland’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act prohibits ‘influencing,’ ‘preventing or impeding access,’ or ‘causing harassment, alarm or distress’ to a protected person within 100 meters (about 328 feet) of facilities where abortions are performed,” the outlet reported.
Johnston was said to be “influencing” inside one of these zones, but he did not even mention abortion. He was reading John 3:16.
“It effectively redefines peaceful Christian witness as a form of unlawful ‘influence,’” he described to Fox News.
“If simply reading the Bible, praying, and preaching on God’s love can now be considered harmful because someone might overhear it within a certain area, then we have crossed a very serious line.”
“John 3:16 is one of the most well-known and hope-filled verses in the Bible — a message about God’s love and salvation. 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?”
Police body camera footage was released of Johnston speaking to an officer the day he held the service.
🚨NEW: Judge to rule on Clive Johnston’s case TOMORROW. 🇬🇧
The 78-year-old pastor was tried for sharing the gospel near a hospital where a “buffer zone” is in place.
He didn’t mention abortion, yet is accused of “influencing” decisions on the matter pic.twitter.com/JyXrrA0DBf
— Lois McLatchie Miller (@LoisMcLatch) May 6, 2026
He has been fined 450 British pounds, which equates to $614, but is considering appealing the conviction.
Johnston spoke at a press conference where he called the decision “a very dark day for Christian freedom.”
“There shouldn’t be any public spaces in Northern Ireland where you can be prosecuted and convicted simply for preaching the gospel.”
Where are all the Muslims being convicted of preaching their doctrine of hate and violence?
The United Kingdom’s police, laws, and court system have devolved into something beyond parody in a once honored domain for liberty. As former President Ronald Reagan said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
Johnston — and every Christian in Europe — need prayers.
Those who deliver Christ’s message have endured awful, depraved lies in his name, many of them martyred for refusing to stop declaring that he is the Lord of us all.
John 15:18 reads, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.”
We should be saddened by this news but not surprised.
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