Police remove preacher from Speakers’ Corner
Tim Dieppe comments on the recent removal by police of preacher Hatun Tash at Hyde Park’s Speakers’ Corner. ‘The home of free speech’ Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park has long been a bastion of free speech in the UK. It is reputed to be the most famous location for free speech in the world. A ...
26 September 2020 Articles
Scottish hate crime bill ‘over-regulates free speech’
The Christian Legal Centre’s Roger Kiska comments on how the proposed new Scottish hate crime bill endangers freedom of speech. On 23 April 2020, the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill was introduced by the Scottish government. On the same day, the Government issued a call for evidence in relation to the bill, with ...
29 May 2020 Articles
Assessing the Coronavirus Act 2020: what you need to know
The Christian Legal Centre’s Roger Kiska analyses how the Coronavirus Act will affect Christian freedoms in the UK. Read and download our summary guide on the Coronavirus Act 2020. “In many ways, it is hard for modern people living in First World countries to conceive of a pandemic sweeping around the world and killing millions ...
17 April 2020 Articles
Kristie wins hearts at Free Speech Union launch
Tim Dieppe reports on the launch of the Free Speech Union This week saw the launch of a new initiative to defend free speech. The Free Speech Union (FSU) has been set up by journalist Toby Young in order to help protect and support people who suffer in the work place or the public square ...
28 February 2020 Articles
Responding to the Conservative manifesto
The Conservative manifesto, released over the weekend, contains no policy proposals on liberalising abortion, gender self-declaration, or no-fault divorce. This sets the Conservatives apart from the other two main parties, both of which have extreme proposals on abortion and gender self-declaration, and both of which propose to introduce unilateral destruction of families through no-fault divorce. Same-Sex ...
28 November 2019 ArticlesChristian Concern responds to Conservative manifesto
The Conservative manifesto, released over the weekend, contains no policy proposals on liberalising abortion, gender self-declaration, or no-fault divorce. This sets the Conservatives apart from the other two main parties, both of which have extreme proposals on abortion and gender self-declaration, and both of which propose to introduce unilateral destruction of families through no-fault divorce. ...
28 November 2019 Press Office
Appeasement, compromise and silence in a D-Day for the Church
Wilberforce Academy Director, Dr Joe Boot, comments on the state of the nation and where we have gone since the Britain of the 1930s and 40s. Sadly, he says, with eroding freedoms and emptying churches, “the heart and soul of the nation [has become] disease-ridden, on life-support and on the edge of extinction.” How will ...
14 June 2019 ArticlesTim Farron’s resignation shows ‘totalitolerance of illiberal elite’
Tim Farron's resignation as leader of the Liberal Democrats "demonstrates that Christians are simply not tolerated by the illiberal elite", says Andrea Williams.
15 June 2017 Press OfficePastor Oluwole Ilesanmi acquitted of hate speech
A missionary Nigerian pastor who is also a Christian street preacher has been acquitted of using ‘threatening and abusive language’ whilst preaching in Woodgreen, London.
18 December 2017 Press OfficeChristian preacher arrested in Barking for hate speech has charges dropped
Christian Legal Centre client, Pastor David Lynn, was released on Wednesday (21 March) without charge after being arrested outside Barking Tube Station on 20 March 2018 for preaching the gospel.
20 March 2018 Press Office
Freedom of speech
We promote the freedom to speak of Jesus Christ and his pattern for life, and to express beliefs and viewpoints to which some people object.
25 May 2019 Current Issues
Government refuses to say evangelism isn’t hate speech
Tim Dieppe comments on this week’s House of Lord’s debate on religious hate speech. Lord Pearson asked an oral question in the House of Lords this week: “To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether section 29J of the Public Order Act 1986 remains in force, and if so, what is the basis in statute for the ...
7 December 2018 Articles
Scotland’s alarming hate posters
Tim Dieppe discusses posters used in a hate crime awareness campaign by the Scottish Government and Scottish Police. The Scottish Government and the Scottish Police, under the banner One Scotland, are running a hate crime awareness campaign. The campaign consists primarily of posters addressing ‘Bigots’, ‘homophobes’, ‘transphobes’, and others, and signed ‘Yours, Scotland’. David Robertson ...
12 October 2018 Articles
Christian preacher arrested in Barking for hate speech has charges dropped
Christian Legal Centre client, Pastor David Lynn, was released on Wednesday (21 March) without charge after being arrested outside Barking Tube Station on 20 March 2018 for preaching the gospel. David was held at Fresh Wharf Custody Base in Barking for over 20 hours, during which he was questioned by the police under caution. Preached ...
23 March 2018 Articles
Pastor Oluwole Ilesanmi acquitted of hate speech
A Christian street preacher has been acquitted of using ‘threatening and abusive language’ whilst preaching in Wood Green, London. Pastor Oluwole Ilesanmi, aged 62, had been charged concerning a sermon that he preached on 24 June 2017, when a Muslim and two political activists pressed charges when he criticised the Quran. Although he was charged ...
20 December 2017 Articles
Peer fears evangelism could be hate crime
Lord Pearson of Rannoch has said that that he fears that telling other people about Christianity could soon become a hate crime. In an interview with Premier Radio, Lord Pearson said that free speech is being eroded by hate crime legislation. Last week, in a debate on freedom of speech and the definition of hate crime, ...
13 December 2017 Articles
The Challenge of Islam in the UK
Tim Dieppe writes about the challenge of Islam in the UK, asking how the church should respond. This article was originally published in the Affinity Social Issues Bulletin for November 2017. You can read Tim’s 2024 update on The Challenge of Islam in the UK here. The Influence of Islam The fastest growing religion in ...
22 November 2017 Articles
Tim Farron’s resignation shows ‘totalitolerance of illiberal elite’
Tim Farron’s resignation as leader of the Liberal Democrats “demonstrates that Christians are simply not tolerated by the illiberal elite”, says Andrea Williams. In his resignation statement, Farron said that to be leader of the Liberal Democrats and “to live as a committed Christian…felt impossible” to him. He added, “we are kidding ourselves if we ...
15 June 2017 Articles
Awake, Arise! Bristol
Stand and speak for Jesus in today’s world. The darkness in our society is great. All around us, we are seeing the consequences of rejecting God’s good ways: disorder, brokenness and death. We are in a fight for life, for family and for freedom. But there is hope. In the midst of fast-moving cultural changes, ...
28 February 2026 Events
Preacher acquitted after ‘hate claim’ for saying ‘we love the Jews’
Christian street preacher Shaun O’Sullivan has been cleared by a jury at Swindon Crown Court after a trial that raised serious questions about freedom of speech and the policing of so-called “hate claims.” Mr O’Sullivan, 36, who is being supported by lawyers at the Christian Legal Centre, faced charges of religiously aggravated intentional harassment under ...
24 November 2025 Articles
Christian lecturer begins giving evidence at Tribunal
On 29 May 2024, Dr Aaron Edwards, a lecturer and father of six, sacked by a Methodist Bible College for one tweet on human sexuality, began giving evidence in Sheffield before an Employment Tribunal. Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Dr Edwards has taken legal action against Cliff College, an evangelical Bible college in Derbyshire, ...
29 May 2024 ArticlesChristian lecturer begins giving evidence at Employment Tribunal
Today in Sheffield, Dr Aaron Edwards, a lecturer and father of six, sacked by a Methodist Bible College for one tweet on human sexuality, has begun giving evidence. Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, Dr Edwards has taken legal action against Cliff College, an evangelical Bible college in Derbyshire, on the grounds of harassment, ...
29 May 2024 Press Office
Police weaponise PSPO to threaten arrest and shut down Christian preaching
The Met Police have threatened to arrest Christian preachers accusing them of ‘hate crime’ and breaching anti-social behaviour legislation for preaching from the Bible in Uxbridge, London. The story and viral footage comes after the London Borough of Hillingdon used a Public Spaces Protection Order in Uxbridge Town Centre to clamp down on Christian street preaching. ...
15 February 2024 ArticlesPolice weaponise PSPO to threaten arrest and shut down Christian preaching in London
The Met Police have threatened to arrest Christian preachers accusing them of ‘hate crime’ and breaching anti-social behaviour legislation for preaching from the Bible in Uxbridge, London.
14 February 2024 Press Office