Belfast Pastor on trial for offending Islam

Good thing in America we don't have ridiculous hate speech laws. Go 1st Amendment!

Belfast Pastor on trial for offending Islam

NightHawkeye said:

From the "Political Correctness run amok," files: Belfast Pastor on Trial for Offending Islam

Pastor McConnell's prosecution is one of a growing number of examples in which British authorities -- who routinely ignore incendiary speech by Muslim extremists -- are using hate speech laws to silence Christians.
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The entire hearing lasted less than ten minutes. As he left the courthouse, McConnell addressed his supporters amid loud cheers and applause. He said:

"They were nervous in that court, very nervous. I thank God for my solicitor who presented a brilliant case. I will not go back on what I preached. I am not guilty.

"I want to be exonerated, I want to be acquitted, I want to be rid of all this. But when I am rid of all this I will be back preaching the same.

McConnell added:

"They are spending thousands. They are running about that court like headless chickens, it is ridiculous, it is stupid. What is wrong with this country? I do not hate anybody."

"Even from atheists, even from people who don't go to church. They say this is ridiculous, and it is ridiculous, it is absolutely stupid."

Among those who turned out to show their support were Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MP Sammy Wilson and his DUP colleague William Humphrey. Wilson, a longstanding member of McConnell's church, said:

"I think this is an important issue of freedom of speech. I believe a prosecution like this introduces a chill factor into society where people feel that if they speak out on something that they believe passionately they could end up being dragged through the courts."

Wilson added:

"People should have the right to express what they believe without fear of prosecution. Here's a man who passionately believes something, who says what he believes and who has been prosecuted for it because there is a narrow, politically correct Taliban who want to corral us all into thinking, saying, speaking as they believe we should. If we allow that to happen then I think we'll be a poorer society."

McConnell, who turned down an offer to avoid a trial, said the issue of Christians being singled out for persecution in Britain today must be confronted and that he intends to turn his case into a milestone trial "in defense of freedom of speech and freedom of religion."​

Pastor James McConnell faces prosecution over Islam sermon streaming | BBC

Belfast Pastor on Trial for Offending Islam | The Telegraph

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Indubitably colossal. Cheers for this brave man and anyone supporting him.

Some of the speech laws in Britain are reasons I could never move there.

Vylo said:

Some of the speech laws in Britain are reasons I could never move there.

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Strictly speaking Northern Ireland is not in "Britain" and the laws on free speech differ in the different jurisdictions of the UK.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mike-harris/northern-ireland-free-speech_b_4830499.html

asherahSamaria said:

Strictly speaking Northern Ireland is not in "Britain"

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I'm pretty sure it is! In this context 'Britain' refers to the UK (rather than to the physical island), and so includes NI

asherahSamaria said:

and the laws on free speech differ in the different jurisdictions of the UK.

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But yeah, they do have a devolved parliament, and their own powers over many areas of legislation. I don't know the history of their hate speech laws, but given the history of that country, I imagine they were brought in to stop firebrand Unionists and Nationalists from saying nasty things about each other!

NightHawkeye said:

British authorities -- who routinely ignore incendiary speech by Muslim extremists

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LOL, citation needed!

NightHawkeye said:

Belfast Pastor on Trial for Offending Islam

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Gatestone Institute

How do you consistently find all these terrible sources?!

Oafman said:

Gatestone Institute

How do you consistently find all these terrible sources?!

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You dispute the story?

As a British person, I am ashamed that this pastor is being prosecuted. Free speech is one of the most important things in society, and whatever hateful things this Pastor has said regarding Islam, it is completely unethical to prosecute him for it.

I think we need to raise this with our Government. The Tories, who are currently in power, should stand for classical liberal ideas, including free speech. I'm not sure they could do much in this case, as it is in Northern Ireland, but certainly here in England, we have far too restrictive laws on free speech.

Supreme said:

As a British person, I am ashamed that this pastor is being prosecuted. Free speech is one of the most important things in society, and whatever hateful things this Pastor has said regarding Islam, it is completely unethical to prosecute him for it.

I think we need to raise this with our Government. The Tories, who are currently in power, should stand for classical liberal ideas, including free speech. I'm not sure they could do much in this case, as it is in Northern Ireland, but certainly here in England, we have far too restrictive laws on free speech.

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Actually, this appeared to be a UK-wide law. I'm not sure how I feel about that aspect of the Communications Act 2003 though. It seems to say that some speech is ok as long as you don't use modern communication technology to share it, which makes no sense to me. But the UK does regulate telecommunication more then the US does. *shrug*

Oafman said:

I'm pretty sure it is! In this context 'Britain' refers to the UK (rather than to the physical island), and so includes NI


But yeah, they do have a devolved parliament, and their own powers over many areas of legislation. I don't know the history of their hate speech laws, but given the history of that country, I imagine they were brought in to stop firebrand Unionists and Nationalists from saying nasty things about each other!

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The correct name of the country is the United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is not in "Britain" though sometimes it gets incorrectly called so. I'm not being pedantic but when you actually live here it's kinda important.

I'll be blunt. I'd like to think that at this point we understand that free speech is a fundamental right, to the point where getting up in public and saying, "Mohammed was a child-raping monster who deserves to be tortured forever. Islam as a religion is a sadistic death cult which actively encourages terrorism and other horrible actions," would be entirely legal anywhere in the civilized world. No matter how offensive my statements might be to some backwards religious nutjobs. Many european countries have a far less absolutist view about the importance of free speech, in a way I find horribly misguided.

Britain's hate speech laws are ridiculous. But that does not mean this pastor is "brave," or praiseworthy. What he said should be legal. Many things that are legal are not wise or worthy of support.

So looking at the details then this pastor is not to be congratulated or held up as a shining example. If your going to stream stuff so anyone can see it then use your brain. With people like this pastor it is no wonder that christians constantly have to defend themselves as being nothing but a bunch of hateful bigots. As a christian I am sick of it. I can easily get the christian message across including all the uncomfortable bits without resorting to hate speech. While the bible says the world will hate us that is no excuse to misuse that verse as justification for behaving like a jerk. When we look at the times Jesus had stern words or actions it was in response almost every single time. If people looked at how often Jesus spoke about compassion and caring and spent the same proportion of their time preaching those things then we would stand out like we are supposed to.