'All I did was pray to God': Court finds Christian man guilty of 'disapproval of abortion' for silently praying for son

[Michie]

A British army veteran who served in Afghanistan was found guilty today of praying silently near an abortion clinic in England.

Adam Smith-Connor breached a Public Spaces Protection Order by this action, according to the ruling at Poole Magistrates Court in the town of Poole near Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The court gave Smith-Connor a conditional discharge, meaning he will be sentenced only if convicted of future offenses within the next two years.

“Today, the court has decided that certain thoughts — silent thoughts — can be illegal in the United Kingdom,” Smith-Connor said after the court ruling. “That cannot be right. All I did was pray to God, in the privacy of my own mind, and yet I stand convicted as a criminal?”

Continued below.

'All I did was pray to God': Court finds Christian man guilty of 'disapproval of abortion' for silently praying for son

A British army veteran who served in Afghanistan was found guilty of praying silently near an abortion clinic in England

www.christianpost.com

 

[Vambram]

A British army veteran who served in Afghanistan was found guilty today of praying silently near an abortion clinic in England.

Adam Smith-Connor breached a Public Spaces Protection Order by this action, according to the ruling at Poole Magistrates Court in the town of Poole near Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The court gave Smith-Connor a conditional discharge, meaning he will be sentenced only if convicted of future offenses within the next two years.

“Today, the court has decided that certain thoughts — silent thoughts — can be illegal in the United Kingdom,” Smith-Connor said after the court ruling. “That cannot be right. All I did was pray to God, in the privacy of my own mind, and yet I stand convicted as a criminal?”

Continued below.

'All I did was pray to God': Court finds Christian man guilty of 'disapproval of abortion' for silently praying for son

A British army veteran who served in Afghanistan was found guilty of praying silently near an abortion clinic in England

www.christianpost.com

This is more evidence that it is becoming unlawful to pray and be in disagreement with the government. Sadly, not only is this happening in Britain, but there are also more than a few examples of praying nearby abortion centers and praying inside abortion centers where Christians are then arrested by police and convicted as criminals here also in the USA.

 

[Michie]

Court Delivers “First Known Conviction of a ‘Thoughtcrime’ in Modern British History”

The guilty man was spotted praying silently for his dead son outside an abortion clinic.

europeanconservative.com

 

[eleos1954]

A British army veteran who served in Afghanistan was found guilty today of praying silently near an abortion clinic in England.

Adam Smith-Connor breached a Public Spaces Protection Order by this action, according to the ruling at Poole Magistrates Court in the town of Poole near Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The court gave Smith-Connor a conditional discharge, meaning he will be sentenced only if convicted of future offenses within the next two years.

“Today, the court has decided that certain thoughts — silent thoughts — can be illegal in the United Kingdom,” Smith-Connor said after the court ruling. “That cannot be right. All I did was pray to God, in the privacy of my own mind, and yet I stand convicted as a criminal?”

Continued below.

'All I did was pray to God': Court finds Christian man guilty of 'disapproval of abortion' for silently praying for son

A British army veteran who served in Afghanistan was found guilty of praying silently near an abortion clinic in England

www.christianpost.com

Ridiculous .... no such thing as "thought crime" ... nobody can read one's thoughts, besides thinking something and doing something are two different things .... if a person is thinking about committing murder are they convicted of that thought? This is a very dangerous precedent being made.

 

[trophy33]

"breached a Public Spaces Protection Order"

He was where he was not supposed to be, demonstrating his anti-abortion stance by posing in a praying position. If he looked normally and had a practical reason to be there, he could pray all day long.

The rest of the article is quite irrelevant (for example that he was in Afghanistan) and people quoted in it are giving misleading bloated interpretations of the case, including him.

 

[jas3]

"breached a Public Spaces Protection Order"

The existence of such an order is unjust.

 

[rturner76]

This is more evidence that it is becoming unlawful to pray and be in disagreement with the government. Sadly, not only is this happening in Britain, but there are also more than a few examples of praying nearby abortion centers and praying inside abortion centers where Christians are then arrested by police and convicted as criminals here also in the USA.

He seems to have broken the law and was punished for it. Are there any other secular laws that we should be able to ignore because of our religious beliefs?

 

[RileyG]

This is more evidence that it is becoming unlawful to pray and be in disagreement with the government. Sadly, not only is this happening in Britain, but there are also more than a few examples of praying nearby abortion centers and praying inside abortion centers where Christians are then arrested by police and convicted as criminals here also in the USA.

What has happened to Europe and our society?

SMH

 

[jas3]

He seems to have broken the law and was punished for it. Are there any other secular laws that we should be able to ignore because of our religious beliefs?

Yes, those in Muslim countries that make it illegal for Christians to convert Muslims, for example.

 

[rturner76]

Yes, those in Muslim countries that make it illegal for Christians to convert Muslims, for example.

What does that have to do with anything? Don't you live in a secular democracy? Would you rather live in a nation based on Old Testament law? So women can be stoned for not screaming loud enough when they are raped? Wouldn't it be better to base our laws on democracy?

 

[seeking.IAM]

So essentially he was in a prohibited space -- sort of like trespassing. He could pray the same prayer a block away and there would have been no problem. Got it.

 

[rturner76]

Yes, those in Muslim countries that make it illegal for Christians to convert Muslims, for example.

Secular law is non-religious

 

[jas3]

Secular law is non-religious

Secular law is created by the civil government. So a law enacted by the Iranian parliament, not by an ayatollah or other religious leader or group, is a secular law.

Similarly, in China, churches are required to register with the state and to show loyalty to the government. It's illegal to carry out evangelization or religious teaching work online. These laws directly affect Christians, but they're secular laws.

 

[RileyG]

So essentially he was in a prohibited space -- sort of like trespassing. He could pray the same prayer a block away and there would have been no problem. Got it.

That makes more sense.

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

Abortion is a sacrament of the modern state. We should not be surprised that something as small as prayer against it will result in arrest. What's surprising to me is that there are Christians who approve of this in the defense of abortion.

 

[RileyG]

Abortion is a sacrament of the modern state. We should not be surprised that something as small as prayer against it will result in arrest. What's surprising to me is that there are Christians who approve of this in the defense of abortion.

Those who celebrate it or promote will have to answer to Almighty God on judgment day. Hopefully they repent before it’s too late.

 

[rturner76]

Secular law is created by the civil government. So a law enacted by the Iranian parliament, not by an ayatollah or other religious leader or group, is a secular law.

Similarly, in China, churches are required to register with the state and to show loyalty to the government. It's illegal to carry out evangelization or religious teaching work online. These laws directly affect Christians, but they're secular laws.

Agreed but is a society that bases its laws on religion more or less free? Also, within secular law, people and politicians whose morality is based on their religion can sometimes get laws passed that are religious. It just requires that they have a majority. So there is room for laws based on religious morality within a secular democracy/republic.

 

[jas3]

Agreed but is a society that bases its laws on religion more or less free?

That's a complete non sequitur.

Also, within secular law, people and politicians whose morality is based on their religion can sometimes get laws passed that are religious. It just requires that they have a majority. So there is room for laws based on religious morality within a secular democracy/republic.

Whether a law is secular or not is unrelated to whether the secular legislators are religiously motivated. And regardless, I think you'd be hard-pressed to argue that China's or North Korea's (or historically the USSR's) laws against Christianity came from a place of religious morality.

 

[RileyG]

Abortion isn’t about religion. Praying is, however.

 

[rturner76]

That's a complete non sequitur.

Whether a law is secular or not is unrelated to whether the secular legislators are religiously motivated. And regardless, I think you'd be hard-pressed to argue that China's or North Korea's (or historically the USSR's) laws against Christianity came from a place of religious morality.

Perhaps not the countries you named but I believe none of those countries could be called bastions of democracy. For example, North Korea has been a dictatorship since the Korean War and Russia has had a dictator for a couple of decades or more. I'm not sure about China but it's a one-party system so not much power for the people there either.

When people vote in the United States, they (we) are allowed to vote based on our personal values. If you happen to be someone with Nationalistic Evangelical values, you can vote for the people you think will best represent those values. If you are a Progressive atheist, you can vote based on those values. If there are enough Nationalist Evangelicals voting, they can enact laws that reflect those values, the same for Progressive atheists. Where it gets tricky is when we have Supreme Court Justices who rule based on their values and not the letter of the law like we've had since former President Trump appointed 3 Supreme Court justices and 26 other Federal judges who rule based on Nationalist Evangelical values rather than the law because it is their "interpretation" of that law based on their religion so that is a case were the US put judges in place in order to rule for Evangelical values. When Obama was in that situation, the Right Wing refused to approve any judge that he appointed which in my opinion was illegal. So that is a case where religious values were forced on the citizens of the USA and not secular. So if a person or group is in the right position, they can force laws on the nation based on religion rather than secular law and in my opinion, secular democracy is far superior to religious law. Religious law is where people in history have been burned at the steak or otherwise executed for sinning rather than breaking the law. Even as a professed Catholic, I want nothing to do with that.