http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... a-sin.htmlChristian preacher arrested for saying homosexuality is a sin
A Christian street preacher was arrested and locked in a cell for telling a passer-by that homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God.
By Heidi Blake
Published: 1:05PM BST 02 May 2010
Dale McAlpine was charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress” after a homosexual police community support officer (PCSO) overheard him reciting a number of “sins” referred to in the Bible, including blasphemy, drunkenness and same sex relationships.
The 42-year-old Baptist, who has preached Christianity in Wokington, Cumbria for years, said he did not mention homosexuality while delivering a sermon from the top of a stepladder, but admitted telling a passing shopper that he believed it went against the word of God.
I realize that many people find what Christians say to be quite offensive. However, offensiveness should not be the test. Lots of things that we say about Christians offends them greatly, but we expect them to live with it, and we say, as stephen Frye so aptly put it, "You're offended? Well, so fucking what?"
This type of an arrest should be alarming to everyone, because (especially because atheists are a minority in England and even moreso in the US), it may well be OUR offensive speech (or speech deemed offensive by the religious) that is going to get us arrested. There are forces at work to criminalize blasphemous speech, and we rail against it on first amendment grounds, stating that we have the right to disrespect and offend.
I agree.
But, I also can step back and view things objectively. What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, right? If we have a right to offend, then so too do our political, religious, philosophical, and ideological opponents have the right to offend us.
This arrest is a shame, and if the officer overstepped his authority, he should be disciplined. If the arrest was within the law, then the law needs to be amended, IMHO. Arresting people for what they say is a bad thing.