The judiciary should 'protect free speech' - not suppress it

Street preacher John Dunn was arrested after reading the Bible in public and told by prosecutors that parts of the Bible are “abusive” and “no longer appropriate in modern society.”

The Public Order Act charges against him were, however, eventually dropped after his accusers ‘refused to engage with the case’.

The Christian Legal Centre’s Michael Phillips spoke to Andrew Doyle on Free Speech Nation about the impact and effect of the case, particularly in relation to the comments made about the Bible. He commented: “There is this misnomer amongst the police and also some sections of the Crown Prosecution Service that to offend is an offence and it just simply isn’t the case. The law recognises that we are allowed to be offended. What you’re not allowed to do, you’re not allowed to threaten somebody, you’re not allowed to abuse, but abuse is not the same as just to offend somebody … I think it’s the whole cultural zeitgeist which is affecting every single part of our society. We constantly have the push back with the police, and with the Crown Prosecution Service to say ‘look, that just simply isn’t right’.”

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