UK Pastor Convicted for Public Sermon Near Hospital Under Controversial Speech Laws

A district judge in the United Kingdom has convicted retired Northern Irish pastor Clive Johnston, 78, of violating speech laws for preaching John 3:16 in public. The landmark ruling, delivered on Thursday, marks another restriction on free speech in a country tightening regulations on public discourse.

Johnston was found guilty of two charges under the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zone) Act (Northern Ireland) for holding an open-air religious service near Causeway Hospital in Coleraine in 2024. The law criminalizes any action perceived as 'influencing,' 'preventing,' or 'impeding' individuals seeking abortion services within 100 meters of a clinic. Eight such 'buffer zones' have been established across Northern Ireland.

Critically, Johnston’s sermon did not mention abortion, and the service occurred on a Sunday when the sexual health clinic was closed for scheduled abortion appointments. Body camera footage from the incident shows Johnston sharing his faith journey, playing the ukulele, and delivering the biblical passage before a police officer intervened. The officer informed Johnston that he was in a 'safe access zone' and ordered him to stop preaching or face removal and prosecution.

As a result, Johnston now has a criminal record and has been fined £450 (approximately $610). The 78-year-old, a grandfather of seven with no prior legal troubles, plans to appeal the conviction. After the ruling, Johnston told the Christian Institute, which is providing him with legal support, that the decision represented a 'dark day for Christian freedom.'

"We held a small, open-air Sunday service near a hospital. We made no reference whatsoever to the issue of abortion. And yet the buffer zones law is so broad that holding a Sunday service has been found to be a criminal offense," Johnston said. "If someone is out there causing trouble, stirring up violence, harassing or verbally attacking people, then, absolutely, go ahead and prosecute them. But I wasn't doing any of those things as the police video shows and as everyone involved in this case accepts."

Johnston’s case is the first known conviction under the Safe Access Zones Act for a sermon that did not reference abortion. However, he is not the first individual prosecuted for religious expression near medical facilities in Britain. In 2023, Rose Docherty, a 75-year-old grandmother from Glasgow, was detained, arrested, charged, and released on bail for carrying a sign outside a hospital that read: 'Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.' Earlier this year, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce faced criminal charges in England for silently praying near an abortion clinic.

The conviction sets a troubling precedent for free speech in the UK, where peaceful religious expression may now be criminalized not only for what is explicitly stated but also for perceived beliefs that listeners attribute to the speaker. Legal experts warn that the ruling could have wide-ranging implications for how religious and public speech is regulated in 'buffer zones' nationwide.