Café owner faces arrest
No public showing of New Testament DVDs allowed -
police say it 'incites hatred'
Police in Blackpool, England threatened a Christian café owner with arrest last weekend - for displaying the "Watchword Bible" on a TV screen in the back of his restaurant.
Jamie Murray was warned by two police officers to stop playing DVDs of the New Testament in his café following a complaint from a customer that it was inciting hatred against homosexuals.
Murray, owner of the Salt & Light Coffee House on Layton Road, was told that displaying "offensive" or "insulting" words was a violation of Section 5 of the Public Order Act. The officers warned Murray that if he didn't stop, he could be prosecuted.
A woman who had been in the restaurant complained to police. A statement from the Lancashire department said officers were "duty bound" to investigate, and they concluded the business could be in breach of the law. The law warns "people who play images or sounds that stir up hatred again homosexuals could be guilty of an offense," according to a London Daily Mail report.
Murray said he had been given no indication of which verses of the New Testament had caused the offense, but he guessed it may have been a reaction to the Book Of Romans that had been playing the week before. The Book takes the form of a letter from the apostle Paul to the people of Rome, in which he rails against all manner of godlessness. 
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Watch the news coverage of the confrontation
Murray said he felt like a criminal when police confronted him.
"It felt like an interrogation ... We are approaching a state where people can be possibly arrested just for displaying the Bible in public," he warned. "What's next? Police going into churches and saying you can't say this or that?"
The Christian Institute, which is offering advice to the restaurant owner, confirmed that in 2005 the same police department paid compensation of what now would be about $15,000 to Joe and Helen Roberts, a Christian couple investigated by police for telling their local council they didn't agree with homosexuality.
"I'd have thought Lancashire constabulary would have learned their lesson after paying out 10,000 [British pounds] to a pair of Christian pensioners who they had interrogated over their views on gay rights," said Mike Judge, a spokesman for the institute.
Murray told the Christian Institute he took down the display of the Bible videos after being threatened and while he obtained legal advice. He said he has since restored the message.
"I said 'surely it isn't a crime to show the Bible?'" Murray said. "But they said they had checked with their sergeant and insulting words are a breach."
"We've all seen the police stand by while extremist Muslims hold placards calling for infidels to be beheaded, but woe betides a Christian café displaying Bible text," said Judge.
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Sunday, 2 October 2011
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