’The Bible on trial’

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]You may have heard of the case involving Clive Johnston, retired Northern Irish pastor who was accused of breaching the Abortion Services Safety Access Zones Act after holding an open-air church service opposite a hospital.

[00:00:14]The 77-year-old was accused of influencing people inside the protected area for including the Bible verse John 3:16 in his preaching.

[00:00:23]Now, the former president of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland has been convicted. He could face a criminal record and financial penalties. He's expected to appeal the ruling. Joining me now is Christian commentator Lois McClatchie. Lois, what is your reaction to today's judgment?

[00:00:41]Gosh, the Bible has really been on trial in Northern Ireland. You know, this is an remarkable ruling. Clive Johnston was simply preaching from John 3:16 in a traditional open-air service. This was not an abortion protest. This was not engaging in anything to do with the matter of abortion.

[00:01:02]He was preaching from the Bible, sharing the word of God, and yet he has been swept up in this legislation, which is so broad that it bans influencing. You know, presumably now you can influence somebody without even speaking about a matter just by being present.

[00:01:21]So, what So, what happens next? Will there be an appeal?

[00:01:25]Well, Christian Institute have been supporting his case, doing a great job out there today to defend Clive.

[00:01:31]And I'm sure their lawyers will be working now to assess where they go from here. This really is a breaking story.

[00:01:39]We're just finding out details as we go.

[00:01:41]But, I can imagine there will be a strong desire amongst Christians, amongst the public, amongst those who believe in free speech in our country that a man should be able to speak about the Bible, and that should not be considered a crime just because it happens to be within 150 m of a general hospital.

[00:02:03]So, what sort of precedent do you think this sets for freedom of speech and religion in Northern Ireland and indeed the rest of the UK?

[00:02:11]I think most concerningly at the moment we're thinking about a a cultural precedent. You know, we've seen um so many Christians censored in recent years, uh whether that's street preachers on the streets or those who even uh would pray silently in their heads. In recent years, we've seen um several cases of Christians being arrested and tried just for that. And And this is the latest iteration of of growing censorship against Christians in the UK. Um but I think it's it's more than important than ever to ensure that we are able to spread that message that is one of hope and love. He really spoke from John 3:16, "For God so loved the world." Uh this is not a message of hate or disparagement or uh harassment. This is one uh that is of hope, and we need to ensure that we have the freedom to share that.

[00:03:02]The US State Department has previously said it's monitoring Pastor Clive Johnson's case. What do you make of the American interest in this case?

[00:03:11]Uh I think it's important to have international support when our government it does not seem capable of of protecting our free speech. Now, this is a British value, a UK value, um to have freedom of speech in our country.

[00:03:24]It's something that has been embedded in our kind of constitutional makeup uh from long before the United States was even born. And yet now we have eroded those values to the extent that we are being called out in the international arena. I think that's something that should really give us pause to consider uh that we are not upholding our obligations to protect this human right.

[00:03:44]Uh and we must change our ways uh because it is, you know, it's an embarrassment on the world stage uh when we stray from these values.

[00:03:53]So, how can we pray in response to this judgment?

[00:03:57]I think pray that this story is used to amplify the message of hope that is found in John 3:16. We know that when Christianity is censored like this, sometimes it can have an effect of spreading even further under pressure.

[00:04:11]So, I think we should pray that more would come to know the message of hope that is found in the Bible. We can pray for the for Clive and for others who have been censored in this way because of their Christian faith that the God would encourage them and strengthen them in their conviction to share the gospel.