Avon and Somerset Police have conceded that attempts to stop a pastor from commenting publicly on other religions while street preaching were “disproportionate”.
Dia Moodley, a Bristol-based pastor who occasionally engages in street evangelism, was handed a ‘Community Protection Notice’ by the police which forbade him from “passing comments on every other religion or comparing them to Christianity” and “passing comments on beliefs held by Atheists or those that imagine in evolution”.
The notice, issued in October 2021, also banned him from “delivering a sermon or religious address at a time or place that has not had prior consent and approval of Avon & Somerset Constabulary.”
Police have now settled his claim for damages on the grounds of non secular discrimination, which was supported by the Alliance Defending Freedom UK (ADF) and the Free Speech Union.
Welcoming the consequence, Mr Moodley said, “It is not for the police to come to a decision which religions or worldviews will be free from criticism.
“When I preach, I’m committed to speaking about the excellent news of Christianity in love, grace, and truth – but that doesn’t suggest that I won’t ever say something that others may disagree with.
“The nature of a free and democratic society is that we will speak publicly about our beliefs.
“Thankfully, with support from ADF UK and the Free Speech Union, I even have received some measure of justice after having been wrongfully silenced by authorities. But this creeping culture of censorship is detrimental to all of us in society, whatever we imagine, and we must challenge it wherever we see it.”
Moodley, a father-of-four, reached out to the police after experiencing racism, at which period officers began to attend his public preaching with the intention to protect him and the congregation.
It was at a gathering he had arranged with the police to keep up good working relations that he was served the notice, which he refused to sign.
ADF UK said that the restrictions on free speech within the notice amounted to illegal censorship.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF UK, said that the case “exposes a transparent double standard in British policing when the difficulty concerns the expression of core beliefs, particularly Christian beliefs”.
He called for a change to the law to guard free speech for Christians.
“Bristol authorities unabashedly requested prior review of Dia’s sermons and banned him from speaking about every other religion – including atheism. This blatantly restricted his freedom of faith and speech in an try and redefine established British values in accordance with their very own ideals,” he said.
“Whilst we welcome the police force’s admission that their actions were disproportionate, it’s crucial that the laws permitting such flagrant violations of freedom of speech are urgently addressed to forestall the necessity for Dia and others like him from being embroiled in years of legal proceedings only to defend what must have immediately been recognised as their lawful, peaceful and constitutional rights to talk freely in public.”
Commenting on the case, Bryn Harris, chief legal officer for the Free Speech Union, said: “The state doesn’t hold a monopoly on truth and the flexibility to debate and debate ideas, including religious ideas, is the lifeblood of any genuinely free society.
“Yet, repeatedly, we see this principle violated by unaccountable cops and native councils who aggressively pursue their very own ideological causes quite than using scarce public resources to tackle real crime.”
