A Christian preacher won £13,000 last week in compensation after being arrested and held in custody for 19 hours simply for quoting the Bible.
The arrest occurred three years ago when John Craven was preaching in Manchester city centre. Two teenagers approached the street preacher to ask what he thought of homosexuality. Craven read from Revelation 21:8, which says that sinners will be burned in a lake of fire. He also quoted John 3:16 and said that “Whilst God hates sin, he loves the sinner.”
Following Craven’s response the boys began kissing each other in front of Craven and making “obscene gestures.” Soon the youths called a mounted policeman, claiming that Craven’s comments had “insulted” them and caused them “harassment and distress.”
The policeman arrested Craven for possibly committing a public order offence. The officer allegedly took Craven “roughly by the arm” and told him that he was under arrest. The officer did not ask for Craven’s name or address and handled him roughly.
Craven was taken into custody, and remained in a jail cell for about 15 hours. He did not receive food, water, or medication for his rheumatoid arthritis.
This event happened in 2011. On March 29th Craven was finally awarded his £13,000 compensation after a three-year legal battle against the Manchester Police. This battle has cost the public purse approximately £50,000. Mr. Craven won his damages under the Human Rights Act.
In response to his arrest, Craven said:
“I never intended to cause anyone harassment, alarm or distress. I preach the gospel, which means good news and the love of God for all.
“At the end of the day God loves everybody, but homosexuality is a sin and I am not going to contradict the word of God.”
Police Superintendent Alan Greene could not go into detail, but admitted “We can acknowledge that we did make mistakes and kept the claimant in custody for too long.”
This is just one of several incidents involving the persecution of Christians in Britain. In one of our other articles, we have listed several examples of the rising totalitarianism that is spreading over Britain. Christianity is coming under fire, which results in Christians being marginalized and prohibited from freely expressing their religious views. But this victory gives us some encouragement to Christians who boldly proclaim their faith.
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Excellent bit of news
Neil raises valid points
Sadly many Christians do NOT reflect GOD’s glory but appear to be saying do what i say and not what i do
They do not reach out to strangers [ good samaritan ] / visit the widow / the prisoner [ should be getting acclimatised as that is where many of us will be headed ]
I hope Mr Craven took the opportunity to preach to those in bondage while he was in prison fearing GOD NOT man and praising HIM for giving him the opportunity .
Our faith is going to be tested to the utmost .
I hope Mr Craven realises that now he is in the public eye he can give GOD the glory by reflecting HIM in all that he says and does .
HE must increase in us and we must decrease til people only see JESUS
THEN maybe they will turn from thier wickedness and seek HIS forgiveness and FREE gift of salvation
for it is appointed ALL to die once THEN the judgement