A Christian street preacher has received £5,500 in compensation from Police Scotland for being wrongfully arrested in connection to an unfounded homophobic ‘hate crime’ incident.
Angus Cameron, a former pastor at Cumnock Baptist Church, was detained for over an hour in Glasgow while preaching on Buchanan Street in January 2022.
Additionally, he was awarded £9,400 in legal costs, and he chose to donate the entire amount to the Christian Institute, which supported him throughout the case.
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Victory for free speech
Angus Cameron’s situation is the latest in a series of wins for street preachers.
In July 2016, we reported that Michael Overd was arrested in Broadmead Shopping Center in Bristol. He and his fellow preacher, Mike Stockwell, were accused of ‘religious aggravated public order offence’ in February 2017. The pair were convicted in what we described as a biased magistrates court, and were duly acquitted on appeal to the Crown Court.
In 2019, Oluwole Ilesanmi faced a similar incident in London due to complaints about his preaching. He was arrested on accusations of ‘Islamophobia,’ driven four miles in a police car, then released on the side of the road. He received £2,500 from the Metropolitan Police.
Similarly, in 23rd April 2021, CBN News reported that Pastor John Sherwood was arrested while preaching in an open air in Uxbridge, West London. He was accused of a criminal act for preaching what the word of God teaches about marriage. However, a year later, he was acquitted and cleared of all charges.
As much as there have been a number of wins recorded in the last few years, the battle is not over. It still seems it is easier for the police to arrest a preacher when they receive a complaint rather than to explain the principle of freedom of speech to the complainer. Senior police need to take action to stop this absurdity.
Buffer Zone Challenge
In our own case, Christian Voice National Director, Stephen Green, faced trial in Uxbridge Magistrates Court on Friday 19th January 2024 for displaying a Bible verse outside an abortion facility inside a ‘buffer zone’ in Ealing in London.
Stephen stood with a placard displaying Psalm 139:13, which says, in the King James version presented to King Charles at his coronation in May: Psa 139:13 For thou hast possessed my reins (= kidneys, insides): thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
It is forbidden, under an Ealing Council ‘Public Spaces Protection Order’, to demonstrate either for or against abortion in the vicinity of the Marie Stopes abortion centre in Mattock Lane, W5. We say our verse is about human development in the womb, and challenge Ealing to say what relevance it has to abortion. In addition, we say there should be nowhere in the United Kingdom where the Bible may not be read in its entirety. Judge Burgess is expected to give her judgment on Thursday 1st February 2024.
The Bible says,
Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (KJV)
Read our related articles here:
Buffer Zone trial 19th January 2024 →
Buffer Zone Consultation: How to respond. →
Police Told: Let Preachers Preach →
Bristol preachers acquitted on appeal →
Magistrate who convicted preachers is Freemason →
Street preacher convicted – and now acquitted! →
Read and pray
READ: Proverbs 11:30; Matthew 9:36–38; Rom 10:14–15; 1 Corin 2:1–5; 2 Corin 5:20; 1 Peter 3:15
PRAY: for Christians across the UK upholding the faith.
Pray for those prosecuted
Pray for street preachers
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Thanks for highlighting these cases. We need to keep preaching even more because of the times we are living in, and to ensure Christians do not lose the right to speak publicly about Jesus and his message. This inevitably means that preachers have to state things that are unpalatable to some (a minority of) people. There is no way you can preach and not ‘offend’ in the sense of not saying, or avoiding something that is unliked. If you try to say only nice things you will left with what a lot of leaders are left with now, – bland, middle of the road, luke warm, neither one thing nor the other, magnolia, vanilla, and probably compromising messages.
The real reasons why the forces of law are coming against preachers is because the forces that control them, are furious that Christians are daring to tell people about Jesus and scared stiff of our message.
The response from all of us is double our efforts and do more. This country is in great distress, we have even more reasons to preach.