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Sunday Telegraph
Preacher threatened with arrest for reading out extracts from the Bible
in public A street preacher is at the centre of a row over freedom of
speech after police threatened to arrest him for reading the Bible in
public.

By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter
Published: 9:00PM BST 15 Aug 2009


Street preacher a\ccused of inciting religious and racial hatred Photo:
GETTY Lawyers acting for Miguel Hayworth, 29, have demanded an
explanation over the alleged intimidation and abuse of power by three
officers. Andrea Minichiello Williams, the director of the Christian
Legal Centre, has written to Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of Greater
Manchester, over the incident.

She claims that Mr Hayworth and his father, John, 55, were unlawfully
and unfairly treated as they preached Christianity in the city at the
end of July. "They were clearly told that reading the Bible and
preaching can be offensive and that they could be arrested," she wrote.
"Furthermore, they were subjected to abuse and intimidation. They were
told that they were being monitored and filmed," she wrote. Critics
claimed that a Muslim preaching his religion in the street would not
have been treated in such a way by police. Mr Hayworth, a voluntary
worker who is married with two children, has been a street preacher in
the Manchester area for five years and he is often accompanied by his
father. He said that he and his father had decided to preach from 11am
at St Ann's Square in Manchester instead of their usual place on nearby
Market Street. He was reading passages from the Old and New Testaments
while his father distributed leaflets containing the message of the
gospel. "At 2pm, I was approached on more than one occasion by several
police officers who falsely accused me, stating that I was inciting
hatred with homophobic and racial comments," he said.
"One plain-clothed officer, who was with the other two uniformed
officers, said: 'It is against the law to preach and hand out tracts:
preaching causes offence and handing out tracts is harassment and could
result in an arrest.'"
Mr Hayworth said that at about 2.30pm a second officer confirmed that
his colleague had accused the preacher of inciting religious and racial
hatred and wanted to warn him that this was an arrestable offence.
The second officer, Mr Hayworth claimed, also warned him his actions
were being videoed and recorded, and he stopped preaching. Some passages
in the Bible are regarded as homophobic. For example, sections read out
by Mr Hayworth in St Ann's Square included Romans Chapter 1 Verse 27,
from the King James Bible, which says: "And likewise also the men,
leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward
another; men with men working that which is unseemly..." He also read
from 1 Corinthians Chapter 6, Verse 9: "Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers
of themselves with mankind." Mr Hayworth says he cannot understand how
the racism complaint arose. Shortly after being confronted by the
police, he stopped reading from the Bible. He and his father later
approached the Christian Legal Centre, which seeks to promote religious
freedom and, particularly, to protect Christians and Christianity. The
centre, in turn, has instructed Paul Diamond, the leading religious
rights barrister. The centre and Mr Diamond believe that the police
abused their powers during the dispute on Saturday, July 25. It is
against the law to use offensive, threatening or abusive words or
behaviour. It is also an offence to incite hatred on grounds of race,
religion or sexual orientation. However, in its letter to the police,
the Christian Legal Centre said: "Freedom of religious and freedom of
religious speech is specifically protected by the European Convention on
Human Rights." The letter added: "This means that any restriction on the
'right' to evangelise will have to be justified by the Police by a
'pressing social need'. "In a free society, this is very difficult to
do; and a few complaints by irate individuals will not suffice." The
centre and Mr Diamond have represented a number of Christians in alleged
religious discrimination cases. Earlier this year The Sunday Telegraph
revealed that Caroline Petrie, a nurse, has been suspended from her job
for offering to pray for an elderly patient's recovery from illness. She
was later reinstated. Chief Inspector Chris Hill, of Greater Manchester
Police, said: "Police were called to St Ann's Square in Manchester city
centre following complaints from members of the public who considered
the comments being made by two street preachers as racist and
homophobic. "When spoken to, the men said they were quoting from the
Bible. The officers confirmed they were entitled to preach on the
street, but advised them offensive behaviour is not acceptable. "No one
was arrested. I have received a letter from the Christian Legal Centre
and will respond in due course