Cop arrests preacher for saying homosexuality a sin

Telling a street preacher that it is against the law to affirm the Bible's teaching on homosexuality is costing a team of British police officers some $11,000 – plus legal fees.
That was the resolution announced by The Christian Institute in a case that it fought on behalf of a street preacher, Dale Mcalpine, who was arrested and detained for nearly eight hours on the basis of the officers' decision that the Bible's teachings violated the law.
Mike Judge, spokesman for the institute, which fights on behalf of Christian and human rights in the United Kingdom, said perhaps the officers should remember the situation developed in Cumbria, not North Korea.
"Mr. Mcalpine was arrested and held in a cell for expressing his Christian views," Judge said of the case, which was resolved just days ago. "Sadly, it's not an isolated case. We have defended a number of Christians wrongfully arrested under Section 5 of the Public Order Act. There is a problem with the law and it needs to be fixed."
The U.K.'s Public Order Act includes language that is similar to Barack Obama's "hate crimes" law in the U.S. that he signed more than a year ago in that they ban some statements regarding homosexuality.
That bill became law over the objections of a multitude of Christian organizations who say it grants special protections to those who choose a homosexual lifestyle, creating a form of "thought police" in the United States.
In Mcalpine's case, the U.K. police backtracked over issues of wrongful arrest, unlawful imprisonment and breach of human rights when Mcalpine, 42, of Workington, took them to task for his April arrest.
He was preaching from the Bible in Workington town center and his sermon contained no mention of homosexuality. But when he finished, Sam Adams, who identified himself as an "LBGT Liaison Officer," approached him, the institute reported.
"Even though Mr. Mcalpine had never mentioned homosexuality, [Officer] Adams warned him that he could be arrested if he made homophobic remarks. Mr. Mcalpine replied that he was not homophobic, but he sometimes preaches that homosexual conduct is a sin because that is what the Bible says," the report said.
"Uniformed police officers were called to the scene and wrongly informed Mr. Mcalpine that 'it is against the law' to describe homosexual conduct as a sin," the report said.
It is only a short walk to prohibiting any kind of Biblical speech in public.