Preacher Arrested for Calling Homosexuality a Sin PDF  | Print |  E-mail
Written by Jack Kenny   
Wednesday, 05 May 2010 13:00

Dale McAlpine and homosexualityBritish street preacher Dale McAlpine apparently has no problem telling people that homosexuality is a “crime against the Creator.” But he got in trouble when he said that to someone who is not only a homosexual, but is the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender liaison officer for the local police.

On April 20, McAlpine, a Baptist, was passing out leaflets explaining the Ten Commandments or offering a “ticket to heaven” to passersby on a street in Workington, Cumbria where he had been preaching for years, according to the Telegraph of London. When a woman stopped to debate with him, McAlpine said he mentioned a number of sins listed in I Corinthians, including blasphemy, fornication, drunkenness, adultery and homosexuality. When the woman walked away, a Police Community Support Officer approached her and spoke briefly with her, McAlpine said. The officer then came over to McAlpine and told him a complaint had been made and warned him he could be arrested for using racist or homophobic language.

The street preacher said he told the officer: “I am not homophobic but sometimes I do say that the Bible says homosexuality is a crime against the Creator.” The officer then said he was homosexual and identified himself as LGBT liaison officer for the Cumbria police. Undeterred, McAlpine replied, “Well, it’s still a sin.” He then began a 20-minute sermon in which he says he did not mention homosexuality. But three uniformed officers arrived, arrested the preacher and put him in the back of a police van. He was taken to the police station, where officers took his fingerprints, a palm print, a retina scan and a DNA swab. He was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” in violation of the Public Order Act and, after seven hours in a jail cell, was released on bail on the condition that he would not preach in public. McAlpine, 42, said the incident was one of the worst experiences of his life.     

“I felt deeply shocked and humiliated that I had been arrested in my own town and treated like a common criminal in front of people I know," he told the Telegraph. “My freedom was taken away on the hearsay of someone who disliked what I said, and I was charged under a law that doesn't apply.” Police allege that McAlpine made the remark in a voice loud enough to be overheard and that he used abusive or insulting language, forbidden by the Public Order Act. Christian groups have expressed alarm over this and similar incidents, claiming the 1986 law was designed to stop rioters and hooligans and is now being used to curb religious speech.



“The police have a duty to maintain public order but they also have a duty to defend the lawful free speech of citizens,” said Sam Webster, solicitor-advocate of the Christian Institute, which is supporting McAlpine. It is not a crime to express the belief that homosexuality is a sin, Webster told the Telegraph. “Case law has ruled that the orthodox Christian belief that homosexual conduct is sinful is a belief worthy of respect in a democratic society."

One man was convicted under the Public Order Act in 2002 for holding up a sign saying, “Stop immorality. Stop Homosexuality. Stop Lesbianism. Jesus Is Lord,” while preaching in Bournemouth. Another was arrested in 2006 for handing out religious leaflets at a Gay Pride festival in Cardiff, but the case was later dropped.  

“It would appear that Christianity, the normative faith of this country on which its morality, values and civilisation are based, is effectively being turned into a crime,” Melanie Phillips of The Daily Mail wrote in a May 3 column titled, “The British boot stamping on the face of Christian belief.”

“Surreally, this intolerant denial of freedom is being perpetrated under the rubric of promoting tolerance and equality — but only towards approved groups,” Phillips wrote. “Never has George Orwell’s famous satirical observation, that some people are more equal than others, appeared more true.”

Jack Kenny is a freelance writer living in New Hampshire. Send him an email at jkenny2@netzero.com.

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306
JamesSalata
May 05, 2010
75.24.11.37
Votes: +9
But Who Will Have the Final Say?

God will have the final say.
When that day comes and a homosexual dies and stands naked before his Maker and hears the words "I know you not....", he along with his gay pride will be cast into the lake of fire where he, along with all of his other homosexual friends, will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
I don't think they'll feel quite as comfortable with their homosexuality once they have reached that final destination that they so blatantly disregarded and had no fear of........

1484
rprew
May 05, 2010
72.201.107.33
Votes: +5
To be sure...

This particular atrocity is taking place in Britain. Don't think for a minute that it won't be happening here, much sooner than you might expect. We are teetering on the edge.

I wonder just what sort of a politically correct loop would be created if some imam somewhere were to leave off railing against the West long enough to teach from the Qur'an:

7:81: "Indeed you approach males in lust excluding women..."
Arabic: "Innakum lata'toona ar-rijaala shahwatan min doon in-nisaa'i."

26:165-166: "You approach the males of the worlds and forsake those whom your Lord has created for you for your mates."
Arabic: "Ata'toona adh-dhukraana min al-'aalameena, wa tadharoona ma khalaqa lakum Rabbukum min azwaajikum."

27:55: "Will you indeed approach males in lust excluding women?"
Arabic: "A 'innakum lata'toona ar-rijaala shahwatan min doon in-nisaa'i?"

29:28-29 "Most surely you are guilty of an indecency which none of the nations has ever done before you; What! do you come unto the males and cut the passageways [i.e. vas deferens and/or urethra] and do so in your private clubs?"
Arabic: "Innakum lata'toona al-faahishata ma sabaqakum biha min ahadin mina al-'aalameena. Innakum lata'toona ar-rijaala wa taqta'oona as-sabeela wa ta'toona fee naadikumu?"

... Lowly rated comment [Show]
0
Bob Donohoo
May 05, 2010
68.12.107.7
Votes: +1
Concerning the above comment...

Mr. Speers,

Your right to express your views of God are protected by a bed of laws developed by our largely Christian forefathers. Are you as willing to protect their right to speak against homosexuality as they are to protect your right to speak as you do?

Are you?

236
Lee Gonzales
May 05, 2010
98.230.205.55
Votes: +6
Dan, you are obviously confused....

the "she" you refer to is "Mother Nature." God is referred to as the "Father" by His Son Jesus. It's one of those spirit, faith and slavation things that you "poly" types wouldn't understand.

112
RichardR369
May 06, 2010
143.166.255.63
Votes: +7
Free Speech

It seems the haters out there will do anything to eliminate free speech while screaming fairness in another breath. Then twist, distort both the dictionary and history.

0
DDW
May 06, 2010
173.57.11.190
Votes: +7
Like it or not, you blind fools, it is a sin

Old Testament
Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is abomination. Leviticus 18:22
The Hebrew word for abomination, toebah, means a thing that makes the Creator God want to vomit. Now isn't that a pretty picture?

New Testament
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 and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. Romans 1:27 (AIDS?)

As I have posted many times before, the day is coming when we're going to see just who's right and just who's wrong.

Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption: but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Galatians 6:7

... They are without excuse Romans 1:20b

0
DDW
May 06, 2010
173.57.11.190
Votes: +6
And to Dan Speer

You're a blind, ignorant, blasphemous fool stumbling around inside a darkened mentality. My advice to you is get yourself right with the Lord Jesus Christ before it's too late.

0
DDW
May 06, 2010
173.57.11.190
Votes: +7
P.S.

Bad news: To attach the word "gay" to homosexuality is a bald-faced LIE straight from the mind of the original lying, murdering creature Satan. There is NOTHING at the end of that road apart from disease, loss and incredible sorrow.

Good news: The Lord Jesus Christ is still in the business of forgiveness and cleansing:

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out". John 6:37

"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." I John 1:9

1484
rprew
May 06, 2010
72.201.107.33
Votes: +8
Plausible denial

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John 8:32

Some people will go to any length to avoid truth. They firmly believe that what they don't know can't hurt them, hence they avoid knowing. If they don't know they are slaves to sin, they can blindly believe themselves to be free.

0
Crandall
May 11, 2010
74.196.197.129
Votes: +2
Repent and do first works Revelation 3:19

This kind of persecution usually comes when Christians in general have become lukewarm.

0
Bilbo
May 12, 2010
69.92.237.144
Votes: +1
Racist double Standards in GB

It is almost beyond comprehension that GB will jail a man for labeling homosexuality a sin, while simultaneously protecting the right of Muslims to preach openly the overthrow of the liberties, traditions, social norms and values of GB. Islam also holds homosexuality to be a sin, but we all know that the police would have done precisely nothing to an Imam in the same situation as this preacher.
The entire course of western civilization seems to be racial and cultural suicide. We destroy all the glue that ever held our civilization together: kill off our unborn, encourage sexual "exploration", refuse to admit moral absolutes, ridicule Christianity, deny the liberties of white people in order to keep from offending anyone that belongs to certain select groups (especially sexual deviants and anyone with a dark skin). We allow our countries to be overrun by third world immigrants who despise liberty as well as the "sensitivity" that political correctness holds dear.
Freedom of speech now applies only to those select groups; it is the gag for the rest of us. We no longer have equal rights for some are more equal than others. At the bottom of all of this is the filthy racist, anti-white, hate-mongers of the left.
The only way that western civilization will be saved is through the forcible removal of all third worlders from our countries and the complete annihilation of the left.

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