Christianity-free zones have no place in the UK

The conviction of Clive Johnston this week should concern every Christian - and indeed every Briton who values freedom. 

A 78-year-old grandfather now has a criminal record for holding a small open-air church service near a hospital in Northern Ireland.

He displayed no graphic signs, shouted no abuse, blocked no entrances, and did not even mention abortion. He simply preached from John 3:16 - perhaps the most famous verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” 

Yet that was enough to make him guilty under Northern Ireland’s abortion buffer zone laws. 

The uncomfortable question now facing Britain is this: are we creating Christianity-free zones in parts of our public square? 

Pastor Johnston was not accused of harassment, intimidation, obstruction, or abusive conduct. Prosecutors accepted that he made no reference to abortion. His offence was that he preached the Gospel in a place where the state had determined certain forms of “influence” were unwelcome. 

Most strikingly of all, police bodycam footage shown in court and now circulating on X captured an officer telling Pastor Johnston that he should instead share the Christian message in a “safe” area such as a hospital chaplaincy - not on the street where passers-by might hear him and potentially be influenced.  

That exchange reveals far more than perhaps the authorities intended - it suggests a vision of Christianity confined to designated religious enclosures, and removed from ordinary public life. Christians may worship in church buildings, but proclaiming biblical truth openly in the public square increasingly appears to be treated as a problem. 

This represents a profound cultural shift. 

Christianity has never been merely a private spirituality hidden behind closed doors. From the earliest days of the Church, the Gospel was proclaimed publicly - in streets, marketplaces, hillsides, and city centres. Britain itself was shaped by generations of Christians who took their faith beyond church walls: from the open-air preaching of John Wesley to the street evangelism of The Salvation Army. The work of these evangelists had a profoundly positive impact in the lives of many. 

And yet increasingly, Christians are discovering that public expressions of faith can carry unjust legal consequences. We have already seen prosecutions for silent prayer. Now we have the conviction of a pastor for preaching from John 3:16 in public space. 

Certain parts of Britain are beginning to function, in practice, as “Christianity-free” zones. Of course, supporters of buffer zone legislation insist that the laws are designed to prevent harassment around abortion facilities. Genuine harassment should indeed be prohibited (and already is in pre-existing law). Nobody should face abuse near a hospital, a clinic, or anywhere else. 

Increasingly, Christians are discovering that public expressions of faith can carry unjust legal consequences

But that is precisely why the Johnston case is so alarming. 

No harassment occurred. None was even alleged. The issue was not behaviour, but mere religious presence and expression. The logic underpinning the prosecution appears to be that Christian speech itself becomes problematic because of what listeners might infer from it – assuming Clive’s stance on abortion simply because he read an unrelated passage from the Bible. 

That principle should concern far more people than committed churchgoers. The British tradition of liberty has never rested on protecting citizens from hearing views they disagree with - far less, from simply sharing a pavement with somebody who might think differently. 

Freedom of religion is not simply the right to believe privately in one’s own mind, but includes the freedom to manifest belief publicly, peacefully, and openly. That principle is protected not only by centuries of British democratic tradition but also by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 

The US government has described prosecutions of Christians under buffer zone laws as “an egregious violation” of free speech and religious liberty. It is a sobering moment when Britain - long regarded as a model of liberal democracy - finds itself accused of suppressing peaceful Christian expression. 

People of all faiths and none should be able to agree that criminal law ought to target genuine intimidation, not peaceful preaching. The real test of a free society is not whether it protects speech everyone likes. It is whether it protects peaceful speech that some people would rather not hear. 

Britain now faces a choice. We can continue down a path where Christians are pushed out of parts of public life through vague laws and expansive interpretations; or we can reject the emergence of Christianity-free zones and recover the older, freer understanding of liberty: that peaceful Christian witness in public is not a threat to democracy, but one of the freedoms that democracy exists to protect.