A retired pastor who was convicted and fined for preaching a gospel sermon near a hospital in Northern Ireland is appealing his conviction.
On May 7, a judge found Clive Johnston, 78, breached Northern Ireland’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act when he preached a sermon on John 3:16 near Coleraine’s Causeway Hospital in July 2024.
The buffer zone law prohibits “influencing,” “preventing or impeding access,” or “causing harassment, alarm or distress” to a protected person within 100 meters (about 328 feet) of facilities where abortions are performed.
Johnston announced Wednesday he filed an appeal challenging his conviction. He warned that convicting a person for publicly preaching a well-known Bible passage sets a troubling precedent for religious liberty and free speech.
RETIRED PASTOR FACES CRIMINAL CHARGES FOR PREACHING GOSPEL SERMON NEAR NORTHERN IRELAND HOSPITAL
Johnston said he did not mention abortion in his sermon and was simply pointing people “to the hope found in Jesus Christ.”
“If this conviction is allowed to stand, it will signal that basic Christian witness and public expressions of faith can be criminalized simply because they take place in the wrong location,” he continued. “That should concern every person who values freedom of religion and freedom of expression, regardless of their views on abortion.”
In a press release, his legal team at The Christian Institute said they would challenge Johnston’s conviction as a “disproportionate interference with fundamental rights protected under the European Convention on Human Rights and codified into UK law under the Human Rights Act, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of peaceful assembly.”
GRANDMOTHER ARRESTED AT ABORTION CLINIC WARNS OF EXPANDING FREE SPEECH ‘BUFFER ZONES’
Johnston was found guilty of being “reckless” as to whether his actions of preaching and standing near a large cross might ‘influence’ someone accessing the hospital’s abortion services,” according to The Christian Institute.
He was fined 450 pounds, or about $614 in U.S. dollars.
The legal advocacy group says Johnston is the first person prosecuted under the UK law for preaching a sermon unrelated to abortion in a protected zone.
The group’s deputy director, Simon Calvert, said the case wasn’t about “harassment or intimidation” but about “whether the state can criminalize the peaceful expression of Christian faith in a public place.”
DAN GAINOR: ENGLAND DOESN’T HAVE FREE SPEECH AND WANTS TO TAKE OURS AWAY, TOO
“The implications of this dangerous ruling reach far beyond one individual pastor in Northern Ireland,” he said in a statement. “If public authorities can prosecute someone for reading the Bible and preaching on God’s love, then fundamental freedoms are at risk.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE
Others in the UK have been prosecuted under similar buffer zone laws.
In a previous interview with Fox News Digital, Johnston said the law is too broad and puts Christians at risk of government overreach.
“Once the state claims the authority to decide that peaceful biblical preaching is an unacceptable ‘influence,’ in some places, the space for Christians to live out and share their faith in public life risks becoming increasingly narrow,” he said. “And we can go further than faith-related concerns – if an act that doesn’t mention abortion is criminalized, what other acts could fall within the reach of this law?”
“The whole point of preaching within the buffer zone was to stand against the chilling effect that these zones have on gospel preaching,” he added.
Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service did not immediately return a request for comment from Fox News Digital.