Manchester, England – the unofficial capital of the north. John Craven, a fifty-seven-year-old street preacher was doing just that – preaching the gospel - in Manchester city centre in September 2011 when he was approached by two teenage boys who asked him to explain his opinion about homosexuals.
Cavern responded by quoting from the Bible, adding that “whilst God hates sin, He loves the sinner”. The boys, according to the Christian Institute, then kissed in front of him and taunted him with suggestive sexual acts before complaining about his comments to Police Constable Alistair McKittrick.
Cavern was subsequently arrested and investigated by Greater Manchester Police for allegedly using insulting words with the intention of causing harassment, alarm or distress. It doesn’t matter that he may have found the boys kissing offensive.
He was held and denied access to medication for his rheumatoid arthritis and not offered food until, after almost 15 hours, he was given a bowl of cereal and a microwave meal following a complaint to the police from his friend.
Craven has been street preaching for seven years and said: “I never intended to cause anyone harassment, alarm or distress. In fact, quite the opposite. I preach the gospel which means good news and the love of God for all. The actions of the police have left me feeling nervous and anxious. I found the whole episode extremely distressing. It appears that the actions of the police were calculated to give me and other street preachers the impression that we could not preach the gospel in public without breaking the law and if we did we would be arrested.”
The Preacher will now receive £13,000 (of Taxpayer money) as compensation for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and breach of his human rights. Under the European Convention on Human Rights people have the freedom to manifest their religion (Article 9) and freedom of expression, which includes the freedom to impart information and ideas without interference by a public authority (Article 10). The total cost for Greater Manchester Police (The Taxpayer), including both parties’ legal bills, will be over £50,000.
Colin Hart, Director of The Christian Institute, who legally represented Craven said: “Nobody should face 19 hours in custody for simply answering a question about their beliefs. The disgraceful way in which Mr Craven was treated fell well below what the public deserve. In terms of the infringement of religious liberty, it was one of the worst cases we have ever dealt with. Freedom of expression is a very basic human right. The very foundations of our liberty depend upon it. I hope that Greater Manchester Police learn lessons for the future from this case and make every effort to ensure that it never happens again. I am delighted for Mr Craven that a settlement has been reached.”
This BBC report, posted on Youtube, fills in the details.
Craven added: “At the end of the day God loves everybody, but homosexuality is a sin and I am not going to contradict the word of God. The actions of the police have left me feeling nervous and anxious. I was in a cell on my own. I was fingerprinted, swabbed and had my photo taken. They took my shoelaces from me. They said I would not be interviewed until the next day and then they left me."
This and other episodes of improper action by police against Christian Evangelists are raising the appropriate questions about whether police are trained to adjudicate such matters correctly. Or is there a Christian bias present in UK police forces that has to be addressed and rooted out.
Four years ago a Muslim bus driver in London stopped his bus with passengers on board, rolled out his prayer mat in the middle of the aisle, faced Mecca and began to chant in Arabic. Now it’s one thing if he does that in on his own the middle of the park but this inconvenienced passengers at the least and had some thinking a terrorist attack was imminent.
The Daily Telegraph reported that “TfL (Transport for London) has apologised to all the passengers for the delay to their journey and the driver has been reprimanded.” Reprimanded for making people feel a terrorist attack was imminent, breaking company policy and inconveniencing the public.
Meanwhile if you answer a question someone poses to you in the city square by quoting verses from the Bible to them you stand to be arrested and held for almost 24 hours without food and water. America couldn’t get away with treating the prisoners at Gitmo like that.
It is not enough that financial damages were paid. Either the arresting officer was grossly negligent or his training was. Police departments must be held to a high standard beyond reproach and their personnel must be the greatest examples. Likewise the Taxpayers deserve answers when they have to foot the bill for the government’s mistakes.
