In general, you have an absolute right to preach or witness on the street or to hand out evangelistic leaflets.
This follows the judgment of Lord Justice Sedley in Alison Redmond-Bate v Director of Public Prosecutions [1999] EWHC Admin 732 (23rd July 1999) Case no: CO/188/99 Queen’s Bench Division (Divisional Court).
Freedom of speech includes the unwelcome
Lord Justice Sedley insisted that freedom of speech encompassed “the irritating, the contentious, the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and provocative”. He invoked the classical Greek philosopher Socrates as well as the Quaker William Penn and warned against state attempts to control unofficial ideas.
“Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth having”, he declared. “… A police officer has no right to call upon a citizen to desist from lawful conduct.” (See this write-up in the Guardian)
He allowed an appeal by Alison Redmond-Bate of Leeds against her conviction by magistrates for obstructing a police officer in the course of his duty by her preaching. The conviction had even been upheld by a crown court.
That is the law of the land in England and Wales and there is nothing any police officer can do about it.
Giving out leaflets or tracts
There may be local byelaws restricting the distribution of literature on the street, but these need to be checked as they may not do what those objecting to your literature say they do. In any case, they could be open to challenge in the Courts if they restrict your freedom of expression.
The distribution of free literature in London Boroughs is controlled by the London Local Authorities Act 1994. A Local Council may designate roads, car parks, recreation grounds, etc. as places where free literature may not be distributed without the Council’s consent.
However, in the words of the Act, ‘Free literature means any newspaper, document, card or other literature for which no charge is made and which contains or comprises of an advertisement for commercial gain.’
The literature you will be giving out does not contain or comprise of an advertisement for commercial gain and therefore any seizure or compelling you to stop distribution by any council official or police officer would be unlawful and a breach of your human rights to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly for which you would have the right to take further action (which would of course add publicity to the cause).
On private land (eg a car park)
You do not have the right to give out literature on private land. This would include a shopping mall or a supermarket car-park. The supposed right of persons to take what was public land, enclose it in that way and deny the public historic rights of access has never been tested in the courts, so if you feel you want to test that we’ll be right behind you!
In practice, you can give out leaflets to shoppers in a supermarket car park, right up to the door and even inside the supermarket until you are told to stop by the management. This gives further opportunities to witness. Count on getting away with it for about five minutes!
Subsequently, all you do is move outside the car park to the general vicinity of the store.
In the Street
Note that even though the management may complain if you are giving out leaflets criticising their store right outside on a public pavement, there is absolutely nothing they can do about it (subject to byelaws, for which see above, which you should research in advance).
Neither can a police officer ask you to move on unless you are obstructing the pavement, which you will in any case take care not to do. Any police officer threatening you under Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 for expressing a legitimate point of a view in a reasonable way will not be acting in the execution of his duty and no charges will stick.
It will be a good witness to be polite, but firm in dealings with any who object to you.
Hate crimes
Section 74 and Schedule 16 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 amend Part 3A of the Public Order Act 1986 to extend hate crime legislation to cover “hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to sexual orientation (whether towards persons of the same sex, the opposite sex or both).”
To prevent the Act being used to inhibit freedom of speech, paragraph 14 of Schedule 16 inserted a new section 29JA entitiled “Protection of freedom of expression (sexual orientation)” but sometimes known as the Waddington Amendment after the peer who introduced it. It reads:
– In this Part, for the avoidance of doubt, the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices or the urging of persons to refrain from or modify such conduct or practices shall not be taken of itself to be threatening or intended to stir up hatred.[6]
The government tried to insert a clause in the 2009 Coroners and Justice Bill which would have explicitly repealed section 29JA, but the proposed repeal failed and section 29JA remains.
Section 74 and Schedule 16 came into force on 23 March 2010. Days later (12 April) Cumbria Police ignored the Waddington Amendment when they arrested and charged street preacher Dale Mcalpine for telling a gay PCSO that according to the Bible homosexuality was a sin. When Mcalpine pointed out that the arrest was unlawful the arresting officer refused to listen. Charges were eventually dropped and the police made a formal apology.
Public order charges can’t stick
In 2006, South Wales Police arrested Stephen Green, National Director of this ministry, Christian Voice, at the Cardiff Mardi Gras, locked him in the cells for four hours and charged him with a public order offence. The Public Prosecutor dropped the charges and South Wales Police paid an undisclosed sum to Stephen Green for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.
Apart from that of Harry Hammond, whose circumstance were exceptional in a number of ways, not least in that Harry died before his appeal was heard, which prejudiced the whole process, there is no case in England and Wales in which a Christian preacher properly represented in court has been successfully prosecuted under the Public Order Act for merely preaching or giving out literature. Even the moderate use of amplification is acceptable. Furthermore, in every case when the preacher has taken the police to court, he has won or been offered damages.
Seasoned with salt and grace
Hand out leaflets with a smile and a greeting, a brief word of explanation and hold them so the wording is facing the recipient, not facing you. When someone takes a leaflet, thank them.
We always try to pick up leaflets which are discarded on the ground because litter doesn’t add to the witness, but we minimise throw-aways with our word of explanation. However, no-one can accuse you of littering if someone else drops the leaflet they have just taken from you. It is they who are guilty of the offence.
To sum up, there is no right in British jurisdictions not to be offended and no-one can shut you up just because they object to your message. But do all seasoned with salt and grace.
Points to observe:
1 Make sure you are covered by prayer before, during and after your witness,
2 Make sure either you or someone with you is recording every word. This is because people can lie in court to secure your conviction.
3 Give the Lord the glory for every event and for every conversation,
4 make sure there are no beams in your own eye before taking out motes from the eyes of others,
5 Set up your banners in the name of the Lord (Psalm 20:5), go out because of the truth (Psalm 60:4) and for His name’s sake (3John 1:7),
6 Finally, ‘Lift up your voice like a trumpet‘ (Isa 58:01) show the people their transgressions and be blessed!
Christian Voice 15th December 2015
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