By Steve Doughty
UK – Mail Online
(couresy True Discernment)
Street preacher: Anthony Rollins was detained by police after preaching from the Bible
Police have been ordered to pay compensation to a Christian street preacher who was hauled off in handcuffs for saying that gays will go to hell.
A judge condemned the arrest of Anthony Rollins, who quoted the King James Bible on the subject of the ‘effeminate’ as he preached in Birmingham.
Mr Rollins was handcuffed and then held in a cell for nearly four hours after a passer-by dialled 999 and complained that his language was ‘hugely offensive’.
The ruling – which ended with West Midlands police ordered to pay more than £4,000 in damages to the 45-year-old preacher – appears to set a new landmark in the battle between the gay lobby and Christians who want to say in public that homosexual sex is wrong.
It comes as Christian leaders, notably former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, have been complaining against the use of equality law to force Christians to act against their consciences.
Judge Lance Ashworth QC said at Birmingham county court that police who made the arrest acted ‘as a matter of routine’.
‘This was not done in any way maliciously, spitefully or arrogantly. It was done unthinkingly’.
