He also told Christian Today, “Another problem is that if you preach the gospel then you are in danger of committing a criminal offence. Of course this is not the governments intention and they assure us of this, but when you see the words on the page and think how they operate then that is the way it tends to go.”
General freedom of speech and the right to hear were also issues brought up by Ovey. He revealed, “The proposals will penalise the ones who speaks but also the people from hearing. So if 500 people listen to me say Jesus is the way the truth and the life, and then someone says ‘I find that offensive, policeman arrest them!’ then what happens to the 500 people listening and their right to hear and form their own opinion?
One of the organisers of the event, Rev George Hargreaves, leader of The Christian Party, said to Christian Today, “First the problem with the bill is that it already exists in the Public Order Act and the Aggravated Religion Act. There is already the laws necessary in place to take care of the threat this bill is supposed to take care of. The laws are already there and people have been convicted by those laws.“It is also unworkable. A preacher, comedian, actor and even parliamentarians will have to speak and have to know everyone in their audience to know that they will not incite anger in them and offend them. To be guilty of a crime to offend people as we don’t know the constituency of the people we don’t know – this is unjust.
“It is no defence to say we are speaking the truth, and even more it is not even a defence under this bill that my heart and intentions were good.”
Rev Hargreaves concluded, “Our weapons are not bombs but they are mighty through God and so we are here praying above all for his will to be done.”
The Public Policy Officer of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship (LCF) also addressed the crowd regarding the worries over the proposals, “Christianity is not just a private belief. As Christians we should repent. We should truly repent for having allowed our faith to become viewed as a private matter. Biblical truths on how to live are truths for every human-being and so should impact every sphere of public life.“No-one here likes the idea of inciting a person to hate another because of their religion. Indeed the message of the gospel is to love everyone as we love ourselves. Everyone is made in the image of God. No matter what the government says they need, when the law is passed, it could have consequences that no-one ever foresaw.”
The protest will continue tomorrow, Tuesday Oct. 11th at a public rally outside the Houses of Parliament. The Lawyer’s Christian Fellowship, and Evangelical Alliances are calling on all their members to join and make their voice heard in the House of Lords as the bill receives its first hearing. The rally will take place from 1pm till 4pm.
Andrew Clark (Christian Today)
