Irish Pastor Faces Jail After Calling Islam ‘Satanic’
"I am facing up to six months in jail and a hefty fine for saying what I believe." A protestant pastor in Northern Ireland now faces up to six months in jail for having previously spoken out against Islam, denouncing the religion as a "satanic" heathen "spawned in hell."
Pastor James McConnell of Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle suffered intense scrutiny at the hands Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service (PPS) after a sermon he made denouncing Islam last year became available over the internet, which allegedly violated the 2003 Communications Act. For simply saying "Islam is heathen, Islam is satanic, Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell," James McConnell now faces up to six months in jail for "sending, or causing to be sent, by means of a public electronic communications network, a message or other matter that was grossly offensive."
"I am facing up to six months in jail and a hefty fine for saying what I believe," McConnell told the Belfast Telegraph.
After the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris this past January, McConnell had been contacted by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) cautioning him that his life may be in danger due to his past statements on Islam. According to the PPS, McConnell was prosecuted because he had "declined the offer of an informed warning," a charge that left his attorney Joe Rice puzzled.
"The logic of the decision to prosecute Pastor McConnell means that many clerics - including Catholic priests and other evangelical pastors - could now find themselves under investigation for preaching with passion," said Rice. "My client's remarks weren't addressed at individual Muslims but at Islam in generic terms."
Neither Joe Rice or James McConnell have any intention of going down without a fight. The pair even plan on making this a hallmark case for religious freedom and freedom of speech, which will require a range of political, religious and academic witnesses from all across the United Kingdom.
"I don't agree with everything Pastor McConnell says but his prosecution represents a threat to freedom of speech and freedom of religion," said Rice. "If we're moving into a genuinely pluralist society, these freedoms must be extended to Christians as much as they are to others."
The PPS currently plans to call eight witnesses in prosecution of pastor McConnell, but Rice promised his defense will be calling "many more."
"This will be a landmark case with leading political, religious and academic figures giving evidence," said Rice. "I suspect the trial will have to be moved to the High Court because Laganside courts won't be big enough to accommodate it."
McConnell boldly stated he has no regrets about his past statements regarding Islam, saying he has no hatred of no individual Muslims, but denounces it as an ideology and doctrine.
"I apologised last year if I had unintentionally hurt anyone's feelings," he said. "My church funds medical care for 1,200 Muslim children in Kenya and Ethiopia. I've no hatred in my heart for Muslims but I won't be stopped from preaching against Islam."
At age 79, McConnell suffers from cancer and diabetes, and though they will certainly be exacerbated while in prison, he has no qualms about being persecuted for God, likening himself to the earliest apostles.
"It is a case of back to the future. In the first century, the apostles were jailed for preaching the gospel," said McConnell. "Early Christians were boiled in oil, burnt at the stake and devoured by wild beasts. If they faced that and kept their faith, I can easily do six months in jail."
As highlighted by Jihad Watch, the most disturbing theme undergirding McConnell's prosecution is that the United Kingdom has been bursting at the seams with Muslic clerics and Imams preaching all kinds of hatred towards Jews and Christians alike, but not one of them has faced prosecution.
http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/irish-pastor-faces-jail-after-calling-islam-satanic
