A retired pastor in Northern Ireland has been found guilty of breaching an abortion clinic “safe access zone” after preaching a sermon that included John 3:16 near a hospital in 2024.
Pastor Clive Johnston, 78, said the open-air Sunday service “made no reference whatsoever to the issue of abortion,” yet he now faces a criminal record and possible fines after being convicted under Northern Ireland’s buffer zone law.
Calling it a “dark day for Christian freedom,” Johnston said, “If someone is out there causing trouble, stirring up violence, harassing or verbally attacking people, then, absolutely, go ahead and prosecute them. But I wasn’t doing any of those things.”
