How have we arrived at a time when law enforcement tramples the gospel, while silently endorsing violence?

On GB News, Christian Legal Centre's Michael Phillips commented on yet another incident of police officers weaponising PSPO (Public Spaces Protection Order) laws to threaten and silence Christian street preachers. Although these run-ins have captured the focus of the internet and mainstream news lately, they are a 'systemic problem' which the Christian Legal Centre has been working through for over a decade now.

"The problem is that police officers that I meet day in, day out, are often extremely ill-informed about the Public Order Act. What the officer said is, 'You commit an offense if harassment, alarm or distressed is caused', and that is just not what the law says.

"Officers always take this topsy-turvy approach to the law, whereby they say if somebody's upset then there's a crime - and that is not the case. It is not the law. And unfortunately this is a systemic problem. This is Uxbridge; we see it in Liverpool, we see it in in Yorkshire, we see it across the country.

"Eventually what happens is that somebody gets arrested and and put into prison, albeit maybe only for 24 hours, and it sends a chilling effect to everybody else."

Host Martin Daubney duly noted that other religious groups have caused far more disruption to public life and property without repercussions.

GB News

14 February 2024