Policing laws place Christian freedoms at greater risk, warns legal group
from Christian Today:
A Christian legal group has expressed fears for free speech and sharing the Gospel as the government clamps down on protests.
Ryan Christopher, director of the Alliance Defending Freedom UK, has warned that a new body of law in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, and government proposals in the Public Order Act 2022 could see Christians and churches penalised and even placed under criminal investigation for expressing their beliefs.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act recently received Royal Assent and gives officers the power to clamp down on “unjustifiably noisy protests that cause harm to others or prevent an organisation from operating”.
A government factsheet on the new Act states, “This power can only be used when the police reasonably believe that the noise from the protest may cause serious disruption to the activities of an organisation or cause a significant impact on people in the vicinity of the protest.
“‘Impact’ is defined as intimidation, harassment, alarm or distress with the police then having to consider whether the impact is significant.”
The government has said that such action will only be taken where it “is deemed necessary and proportionate”, but Christopher said that the Act “is so broad that it could easily be used to suppress fundamental rights and freedoms”.
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
