Christian Must Face Court After Giving Out Leaflets At A Rally For Gays By Steve Doughty Social Affairs Correspondent Daily Mail, Wednesday, September 6, 2006
A Christian campaigner has been arrested by police for peacefully handing out leaflets at a gay rally.
South Wales Police said evangelical Christian Stephen Green was questioned and charged because his pamphlets contained anti-homosexual quotations from the Bible.
Mr Green is due to face a court today charged with using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour after his attempt to distribute the leaflets at the weekend Mardi Gras event in Cardiff.
A spokesman for the police said that while the campaigner had not behaved in a violent or aggressive manner, officers arrested him because "the leaflet contained Biblical quotes about homosexuality".
Church of England evangelicals said the arrest of Mr Green represented "an onslaught on freedom of speech and freedom of religious expression". Tory MPs called it 'disturbing'.
The decision to prosecute Mr Green is the latest police initiative against those who have expressed disapproval of homosexual behaviour.
Recent incidents have included a Metropolitan Police warning to author Lynette Burrows that she was responsible for a 'homophobia incident' after she suggested on a BBC radio programme that gays did not make ideal adoptive parents.
In Lancashire, Christian pensioners Joe and Helen Roberts were interrogated at their home for 80 minutes by two officers about their 'homophobic views'. They had apparently expressed these in a phone call and letter to their local council in which they asked for Christian literature to be displayed alongside gay rights leaflets in civic buildings.
The Met also investigated former Muslim Council of Britain leader Sir Iqbal Sacranie after he gave an interview saying homosexuality was harmful. However, no prosecution followed in that case.
The action against Mr Green by the South Wales Minorities Support Unit came after he and a fellow member of his evangelical group, Christian Voice, tried to distribute leaflets at the Mardi Gras event. Several thousand people attended the event, which included a gay rugby tournament.
The campaigners were asked by police to leave following 'complaints from the public' and complied with the request.
However, they were approached again by police when they began handing out leaflets at the entrance to the park where the Mardi Gras was staged. Mr Green refused to stop distributing leaflets and was arrested then questioned for four hours at a police station. He was charged after refusing to accept a caution.
The leaflets were headed Same-Sex Love - Same-Sex Sex: What does the Bible Say? and included a series of quotations from the 1611 King James Bible.
One from the Old Testament Leviticus says: "Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is abomination".
The leaflets also quoted Romans from the New Testament, to the effect that homosexuals are given to 'vile affections'.
The handbills urged homosexuals to "turn from your sins and you will be saved".
The charge against Mr Green is that he used "threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby", contrary to the Public Order Act 1986.
Mr Green's Christian Voice group is regarded by other evangelicals as particularly extreme and it has been deeply involved in demonstrations against theatre performances of Jerry Springer: The Opera. However, Mr Green has no record of violence or intimidation.
He said yesterday: 'I'm astonished that South Wales Police have a special unit dedicated to silencing those who disagree with homosexuality."
There was strong support for Mr Green from other Christian groups yesterday.
The Reverend Rod Thomas, spokesman for the influential Reform organisation that represents 500 Church of England clergy, said: "The methods of Christian Voice do not always commend themselves to other Christians. But if there was nothing involved here other than the content of the leaflets, the arrest represents an onslaught on freedom of speech and on freedom of religious expression."
Tory MP Douglas Carswell, a member of the Parliamentary Human Rights Committee said: "I disagree with Mr Green's views but I feel very strongly that he should be allowed to express them."
Colin Hart of the Christian Institute think tank added: "It is noticeable that police never avest Muslims who make remarks about homosexuality."
If found guilty today, Mr Green is most likely to be fined or conditionally discharged. However, magistrates could decide to increase any fine if they decide that Mr Green's actions amounted to hate crime and were motivated by prejudice.
Any guilty finding by the court will leave Mr Green with a criminal record.
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