Dr Paul Allen

A court in the U.K. has cleared a 72-year-old Christian street pastor of all charges a year after his arrest for purportedly causing “alarm and distress” in London by preaching about the biblical definition of marriage, which police said was “hate speech." Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court acquitted Pastor John Sherwood of the Penn Free Methodist Church in north London, whose defense was centered on Article 10 of the 1998 Human Rights Act. “The trial was quite remarkable in that there was so much Scripture quoted in it. Pastor Sherwood was determined to impress upon the prosecution that everything that he ever preaches upon is grounded in the final authority of God’s word, the Bible,” Sherwood’s colleague, Pastor Peter Simpson, who was with Sherwood at the time of his preaching, told Conservative Woman U.K. Article 10 of the 1998 Human Rights Act states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart informat

Proverbs 18:17, “The first to plead his case seems just, Until another comes and examines him.” “Hearers enthralled by a good speech in court can easily forget that they have heard only one side of the argument. More information is needed before a verdict can be reached. When the other party speaks in refutation, people realize they have heard only one side. The experience at court offers a lesson to all who make judgments about others. Truth appears gradually; one must listen to all sides. The old Latin axiom is relevant: audiatur et altera pars, ‘Let the other side be heard too.’ Protagoras in the fifth century B.C.E. said, ‘There are two sides to every question.'” -Richard Clifford, Proverbs, p. 172 “This observation seeks to discourage hasty judgements… Appearances can be misleading, and so critical questions need to be raised to establish the truth or falsehood of testimony. Though the primary setting seems to be the courtroom, the principle applies more broadly.” -Tremper Lon