Christian Concern reports that “Police in Scotland have dropped all charges against two Christian evangelists who were arrested for allegedly using 'offensive' language whilst preaching in Dundee and Perth. (This) after months of representation by the Christian Legal Centre.”
American evangelist Tony Miano was arrested last year outside the Wimbledon Tennis Courts and again in January of this year in Dundee, Scotland, after preaching the gospel legally in a public forum. Miano -- a retired Deputy Sheriff -- was on mission trips from his base in Southern California, and on the second occasion was accompanied by Pastor Josh Williamson from Craigie Reformed Baptist Church in Perth, Scotland.
Williamson had similarly run afoul of the police in his adopted hometown twice in the same week last September when his offending words were, on one occasion, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” He was subsequently arrested for ‘breach of the peace’.
In fact all four arrests carried the common theme of Miano & Williamson talking about the nature of sin and about the different sins that Jesus had come to save people from. It seems that the mention of sexual sin including adultery, promiscuity and homosexual practice provokes the most dramatic responses from law enforcement.
Miano, who was represented by John Kydd of the Christian Legal Centre (CLC), protested his innocence reports Christian Concern: “and said they could see his preaching on video to prove he had done nothing wrong and that his message was one of hope to be found in Jesus Christ. The officers refused to look at the footage and took the evangelist to the police station where he was detained for 24 hours.”
Miano responded to the news saying: “It took months for the prosecutors to view the footage despite our best endeavours from the very beginning to get them to do so. When the Prosecutors finally managed to get the video footage off my camera they could plainly see that the accuser had made allegations about my speech that were simply untrue. The Prosecutors found nothing in my preaching that constituted ‘hate speech’ and came to the conclusion that they had no case against me. Had the officers who arrested me taken a few minutes to review the video footage, they would have seen what I have maintained all along. This has been a stressful time for my family.”
Williamson was also represented by a CLC attorney (Michael Phillips) and said: “Without the Christian Legal Centre our freedoms would be eroded a lot sooner (but) there is still the issue of getting back my equipment, including the footage it contains. I am also seeking legal advice as to redress in Scotland's civil courts against the Scottish Police.”
Christian Concern’s Director Andrea Williams summed up the situation saying: ““This case shows yet again how confused the situation has become. A single passer-by can allege ‘hurt’ (or) ‘offence’ and an innocent preacher gets arrested, taken to a cell and held for many hours. This has a deeply chilling impact on all of us; on our fundamental freedom to speak out about what we believe in for fear of ‘causing offence’ and being punished by the state for doing so. Clearly there is a pressing need for the Association of Chief Police Officers to work with those of us representing street preachers to come up with guidelines on ‘best practice’ for police services across the country to ensure that officers on the beat do not take away the fundamental freedom of Christians to do open air evangelism on the streets of the United Kingdom."
It remains to be seen if police or politicians will pay any attention to anything Ms. Williams has suggested. The status quo is unacceptable and the relatively small active Christian population in the UK needs to push harder for change and break the passive thinking that simply submits to burgeoning societal insensitivities.
