{"id":13202,"date":"2026-05-19T16:10:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T04:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=13202"},"modified":"2026-05-19T16:21:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T04:21:36","slug":"u-k-pastors-prosecution-suggests-creeping-censorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/?p=13202","title":{"rendered":"U.K. pastor\u2019s prosecution suggests \u201ccreeping censorship\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Mike Bain\/cvnznews.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Zealand already has its own version of \u201cbuffer zones\u201d around abortion facilities \u2014 polite little circles on a map where the state decides what kind of speech is acceptable. No one here has yet been prosecuted for praying, but the logic is already baked in. And as Wellington continues to toy with Hate Speech legislation \u2014 trying to criminalise \u201charmful\u201d words without admitting it\u2019s restricting freedom of expression \u2014 it\u2019s not hard to see where this road leads. If you want a preview, look to the U.K.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Clive Johnston speaks to the media while his wife, Sheila, and his legal team listen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last week, a Northern Ireland judge found 78\u2011year\u2011old retired pastor Clive Johnston guilty of breaching a \u201csafe access zone\u201d simply for holding an open\u2011air worship service near a hospital that performs abortions. No placards. No protests. Just a ukulele, a Bible, and John 3:16. Apparently that was enough to trigger the machinery of the modern state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnston preached on a public footpath outside Causeway Hospital in Coleraine in 2024. Police approached mid\u2011sermon, informing him he was inside a restricted zone \u2014 one of eight areas in Northern Ireland where anyone who might \u201cinfluence\u201d a woman entering an abortion facility can be prosecuted. Johnston calmly replied, \u201cThis is not a rally. This is simply proclaiming a message that will change people\u2019s lives.\u201d That didn\u2019t matter. He refused to leave, and the officers took his details. Months later, he was charged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, District Judge Peter King ruled that Johnston\u2019s mere presence and past pro\u2011life associations proved he intended to \u201cinfluence\u201d women. He was fined the equivalent of $610. His crime? Preaching the gospel inside an imaginary line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal experts warn the ruling confirms what many feared: the zones are now being used to criminalise religious expression entirely unrelated to abortion. Other U.K. cases have already punished silent prayer, quiet conversations, and even standing still with a sign offering to talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis creeping censorship should concern anyone who values free speech,\u201d said Ciar\u00e1n Kelly of the Christian Institute. And he\u2019s right. When peaceful worship becomes prosecutable, the issue is no longer abortion \u2014 it\u2019s whether Western democracies still believe in freedom at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Mike Bain\/cvnznews.com New Zealand already has its own version of \u201cbuffer zones\u201d around abortion facilities \u2014 polite little circles on a map where the state decides what kind of speech is acceptable. No one here has yet been prosecuted for praying, but the logic is already baked in. And as Wellington continues to toy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40],"tags":[517,113,643],"coauthors":[709],"class_list":{"0":"post-13202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-faith","8":"tag-abortion","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/abortion_word_montage.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13204,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13202\/revisions\/13204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13202"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=13202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}