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What do you think of this scenario?

Some Christian missionaries were moved on in Birmingham, by a community support officer, because he thought that their actions were inadvisable in a Muslim part of the city.

Some background:

Community support officers are not police but they are dressed in similar uniforms and act as police 'helpers'.

Birmingham has a lot of areas where there is a high percentage of Muslims in the population.

Britain is officially a Protestant Christian state ~ Church of England is the state religion.

Britain is largely secular and generally tolerant of all and any religions.

Some news items

Quote:
'Christian preachers face arrest in Birmingham'
By David Harrison ~ 02/06/2008

'A police community support officer ordered two Christian preachers to stop handing out gospel leaflets in a predominantly Muslim area of Birmingham.

'The evangelists say they were threatened with arrest for committing a "hate crime" and were told they risked being beaten up if they returned.

[The].. 'full-time evangelical ministers, have launched legal action against West Midlands Police, claiming the officer infringed their right to profess their religion.

'Christian campaigners described the officer's behaviour as "deeply alarming".'

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2...Birmingham.html

*

2nd June 2008

'Christian Voice outreach to Alum Rock planned for
10am, Saturday 14th June 2008'

'The ejection of two Christian preachers from a suburb of Birmingham by West Midlands Police will now lead to a Gospel outreach by Christian Voice.'
http://www.christianvoice.org.uk/Press/press084.html

*

'Christian preachers banned in Muslim Birmingham'
Comments:
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andre...slim_birmingham

*

It even reached the American press:
http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2008/06/christian_preac.php


I'd be very interested in your thoughts.



Last edited by PDM; 11/06/09 11:19 PM.

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I think that a community has the right to protect their youth from messages that they find offensive.

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I think the police should remove the missionaries for their own protection.


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and the protection of the community - it would be tragic for something stupid to happen

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One second here. So are you for separation of neighborhoods?
Are you against building mosques in neighborhoods that are not yet majority Muslims?? You have to be consistent, if Missionaries infringe on Muslims rights by talking with them, surely Muslim should not be allowed to do the same thing.
The truth of the matter is that Muslims communities are growing all over and not just because of natural growth but also because they convinced Christians and others to convert.
If you were suggesting forbidding missionaries to try and convert to Muslins to Christianity, surely you would forbid converting to Islam.
Something to think about!



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England has a state church - there is no separation of church and state.

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This was, naturally, on the local news. They interviewed a couple of people from the area ~ Muslims ~ who said that it was a free country, and a Christian country, so they could see no reason to stop the men talking about Christianity.


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I agree, they should be able to preach wherever they want to. The Muslims don't have to listen just as I don't have to listen. Unfortunately certain populations get upset in different ways and express themselves differently.


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It seems that it wasn't just about them being Christian, but also about them being American as well:

Quote:
They said when the officer realised they were American ... he launched a tirade against President Bush and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"He said we were in a Muslim area and were not allowed to spread our Christian message. He said we were committing a hate crime by telling the youths to leave Islam and said that he was going to take us to the police station."



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I would say the officer had alot of issues and acted in a very questionable way. Any Muslim in the area has the right to close thier door, or walk away-was there a local complaint filed or did the officer act on his own? Does the UK have a freedom of speech law? Surely thier removal would be in violation of that law. Would this same thing have happened if it were Muslims recruiting for a Madrassa, or a Hare Krishna handing out pamplets?


"When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. And that is my religion." Abraham Lincoln
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