Important Takeaways:
- While many already knew about the “thought crime” case against a British Army veteran, Vice President JD Vance brought it to the world’s attention again in a speech to the Munich Security Conference on February 14.
- “A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith-Connor, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and an army veteran with the heinous crime of standing 50 meters from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes, not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own,” Vance said.
- Smith-Connor was convicted last fall of praying within an abortion clinic “buffer zone.” When he was approached by police officers, they asked, “What is the nature of your prayer today?”
- Smith-Connor answered, “What is the nature of my prayer? I’m praying for my son,” making the charge against him what many are calling a “thought crime.” We met Smith-Connor at a church in Southampton, England, where he told us of a dream that led him into the pro-life movement, a dream in which he was butchering a baby.
- He recounted, “I was carving up this baby, as if I was carving up a Sunday roast. I didn’t have any sense of guilt or anything, and it was no feeling of anything as I was doing this. When I woke up, it was like a nightmare in reverse. I was so horrified because I had carved up this child who I knew was my son. And it horrified me that I hadn’t felt anything as I did it. And over the following days, I came to realize it related to an abortion that I’d paid for two decades earlier. That abortion hadn’t even crossed my mind. But God knew that that was sitting on my conscience. He knew that I wasn’t going to figure out for myself and that that needed to be cleansed. So, I feel that he gave me that vision, that dream, to wake me up to what had happened.”
- He began to go to abortion clinics to pray for his son and would eventually be charged with a crime for praying.
- Smith-Connor said police officers “decided from that because they knew that my son had died in an abortion, that therefore, I was in breach of the buffer zone. And they asked me to leave the area. I declined because I don’t think that prayer can ever be considered a criminal act or Illegal. I didn’t approach anyone. I didn’t speak to anyone. Didn’t even look at anyone. And in fact, if you’ve been in the clinic, you wouldn’t have seen me from the clinic because I was behind a tree, out of line of sight of the clinic entrance.”
- Lois McLatchie Miller with Alliance Defending Freedom International says the government’s use of the word “influence” has created a very broad law that can potentially be used against private conversations and even a person’s thoughts and prayers.
- Miller told us, “By using a word like ‘influence,’ it’s very unclear what the law means. What about a mother asking her daughter, ‘Are you sure?’ Is that an ‘influence’? What about a friend who’s offering support to a woman who’s considering continuing her pregnancy? Is that ‘influence’?”
- Livia Tossici-Bolt, a 63-year-old retired medical scientist from Bournemouth, England, was also convicted under the law last week for holding up a sign reading “here to talk, if you want” within an abortion clinic buffer zone and talking to women who approached her.
- In Scotland, citizens living within buffer zones were sent letters warning that they could violate the law while inside their own homes. Some think it could include praying near a window if a woman seeking an abortion walks by.
- Adam Smith-Connor said he’s grateful to Vice President JD Vance for defending him before world leaders.
- Smith-Connor is a British Army vet who risked his life in Afghanistan. This case makes him reflect on the personal price he paid for freedom and a close friend who died to protect the very rights that his government is now taking away.
- “I’ve got a profound sense of sadness for our nation. The fact that we have plummeted to such a depth so quickly is truly shocking to me. I believe in the Bible and what the Bible says, and I live that out in my life. And when the civil laws step outside of the laws of God, then I’m to follow God’s laws. And the absurdity of being put on trial for the contents of your mind, the contents of your prayers. It just has no place in a liberal, free, democratic society.”
- “And yet, here we are.”
- An appeal of Adam’s conviction has been set for July.
Read the original article by clicking here.
1Peter 4:12-14 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
Important Takeaways:
- Wake-Up Call: Second Person Faces Criminal Record For Silently Praying In The UK
- A man from Southampton, U.K., has been fined for praying near an abortion facility in Bournemouth.
- Adam Smith-Connor, a British army veteran, stood still and silent on Ophir Road, a public street, for a few minutes before being approached by “community safety accredited officers,” according to an article at adf.uk
- The officers warned him he was in an area under a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), which establishes a “safe zone” around abortion clinics and prohibits “engaging in any act of approval/disapproval,” including praying. The abortion clinic in Bournemouth is the fifth one in the country to have this type of censorship zone, according to local news reports.
- After repeatedly being asked what the nature of his prayer was, Smith-Connor told authorities he was praying for his son who died by abortion 22 years ago, a decision that still haunts him to this day.
- “I’m sorry for your loss,” the council officer told Smith-Connor. “But ultimately, I have to go along with the guidelines of the Public Space Protection Order, to say that we are in the belief that therefore you are in breach of clause 4a, which says about prayer, and also acts of disapproval …”
- He would never have imagined that praying silently would put him at risk for criminal record.
- “In the past, I assisted with abortions in hospital as part of my army medical training, but now I pray for those who perform abortions, because I realize how harmful abortion is to women and families, and that every single human life is valuable—no matter how small,” he said. “Most of all, I’m moved to pray because of what happened to my son.”
- “Nobody should be criminalized for what they believe—especially not when they express that belief silently, in the privacy of their own minds,” said Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for ADF UK
Read the original article by clicking here.
1 Peter 4:12-14 “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.
Important Takeaways:
- Woman arrested for ‘thought crime’ of silently praying!
- She was in the proximity of a U.K. abortion business at the time.
- “You don’t have to be pro-life to see that this is wrong,” Isabel Vaughn-Spruce [she’s the U.K. March for Life director.]
- The report said, “Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a charity volunteer and Christian, was approached by police officers outside of BPAS Robert Clinic in Birmingham, England, and asked if she was praying, according to ADF’s press release. Vaughan-Spruce told the officers she “might be praying silently” and was later arrested.”
- She explains, “I’m still trying to get my mind around the fact that I’ve been arrested for silent thoughts going on in the privacy of my own head.”
- George Orwell’s “thought crimes,” the concept he introduced in his novel “1984” where people become criminals by thinking, have arrived.
Read the original article by clicking here.
Matthew 5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Important Takeaways:
- Grandma Prevails After Police Arrested Her for Silently Praying Near Abortion Clinic, Now UK Cities Seek ‘Prayer Ban’ Zones
- A 76-year-old grandmother in the United Kingdom has successfully challenged her arrest that occurred while she was walking and praying silently near an abortion clinic.
- The charges have now been dismissed.
- [In Feb 2021] The officer told her she wasn’t praying in a place of worship and she did not have a reasonable excuse to be outdoors. He accused her of being in front of the clinic to protest. Lalor was arrested, detained, and issued a fine.
- The ADF UK reports the Liverpool and Bournemouth City Councils are now trying to create censorship zones around abortion clinics within their respective municipalities.
- Aberdeen’s City Council already approved a measure to censor its public streets last week.
- In Richmond and in Ealing, where buffer zones have already been implemented, even silent prayer is prohibited
- Meanwhile, the Scottish government has also shown support for instituting the same type of “buffer zones” across Scotland.
Read the original article by clicking here.
