Many Christians feel uneasy when they hear about believers deliberately placing themselves in conflict with abortion buffer zone laws. Some ask, quite reasonably, ‘Why not simply preach somewhere else? Why hold a sign somewhere else? Why pray somewhere else?’
Those questions should not be dismissed lightly. Christians are called to be peaceable people. Scripture exhorts us, ‘If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all’ (Romans 12:18). We are not to be quarrelsome troublemakers. The Apostle Peter warns believers not to suffer as ‘an evildoer or as a meddler’ (1 Peter 4:15). And yet, while those instincts are understandable, the issue before us is not so simple.
Yesterday’s decision by Pastor Clive Johnston to appeal his conviction for preaching on John 3:16 within a Northern Ireland abortion buffer zone has brought these questions into sharp focus. Pastor Johnston has been criminalised – not for harassment, intimidation, or aggressive conduct – but for publicly proclaiming the gospel.
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