{"id":14855,"date":"2026-04-21T11:54:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:54:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=14855"},"modified":"2026-04-21T11:54:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:54:41","slug":"united-states-monitoring-case-of-pastor-arrested-for-john-316-sermon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2026\/04\/united-states-monitoring-case-of-pastor-arrested-for-john-316-sermon.html","title":{"rendered":"United States ‘monitoring’ Case of Pastor Arrested For John 3:16 Sermon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A UK pastor is facing criminal charges and fines after he preached on John 3:16 near an abortion clinic. 77-year-old Pastor Clive Johnston delivered his sermon outside on a small patch of grass July 2024 near Causeway Hospital\u00a0in Coleraine, Ireland. Around 12 people attended the service, with a wooden cross set up for worshippers.<\/p>\n

The hospital offers abortion services, so when two officers approached Johnston, they warned him that he was violating the country\u2019s barrier laws. The laws prohibit anyone form trying to \u201cinfluence\u201d people accessing abortion. It is also alleged that Johnston failed to leave the area when asked to do so by police. Johnston\u2019s sermon didn\u2019t mention abortion at all, nor did he have any signage against abortion. Johnston was never arrested either. Regardless, he was notified of prosecution by summons and now faces two counts of violating the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act. The law makes it a criminal offense for patrons to be \u201cimpeded, recorded, influenced or to be caused harassment, alarm or distress\u201d within so-called buffer zones around hospitals and abortion clinics.<\/p>\n

Johnston is a grandfather of 7 and a retired pastor from Strabane. He has never been in trouble with the law but if convicted, he would now have a criminal record and could be forced to pay a fine up to $3,300. Buffer zone cases like Johnston\u2019s have become an international concern, with some Christians like Adam Smith-Connor being arrested for simply praying outside an abortion clinic. The Trump administration has been monitoring such cases for violations of free speech and religious liberty. \u201cThe U.K.\u2019s persecution of silent prayer represents not only an egregious violation of the fundamental right to free speech and religious liberty, but also a concerning departure from the shared values that ought to underpin U.S.-U.K. relations,\u201d a State Department spokesman said of Johnston\u2019s case.<\/a><\/p>\n

Simon Calvert, Deputy Director of The Christian Institute, which is supporting Johnston, criticized such laws. \u201cShould a law designed to stop abortion protests be used to criminalise gospel preaching? John 3:16 is a wonderful, famous verse and everyone knows it says nothing about abortion,\u201d he said in a statement<\/a>. He went on to add that, \u201cChristians are pro-life. But preaching the good news about Christ is not the same thing as protesting against abortion. The Police and the Public Prosecution Service are overstepping the mark.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A UK pastor is facing criminal charges and fines after he preached on John 3:16 near an abortion clinic. 77-year-old Pastor Clive Johnston delivered his sermon outside on a small patch of grass July 2024 near Causeway Hospital\u00a0in Coleraine, Ireland. Around 12 people attended the service, with a wooden cross set up for worshippers. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":14864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nUnited States 'monitoring' Case of Pastor Arrested For John 3:16 Sermon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UK pastor Clive Johnston faces charges after preaching John 3:16 near an abortion clinic, raising major free speech concerns.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2026\/04\/united-states-monitoring-case-of-pastor-arrested-for-john-316-sermon.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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