In England — the nation that gave the world the King James Bible — street preachers are now being arrested for sharing it in public.
Britain’s Christian heritage runs deep. The Church of England was established in the 16th century. Parliament opens with prayer. The monarch is crowned in a Christian ceremony. Yet by 2025, just 44% of British adults identified as Christian — down from 54% in 2018. Church attendance has fallen every decade since 1930. And in the past year alone, a pastor in Bristol was arrested and held for eight hours on suspicion of “inciting religious hatred” after delivering a street sermon. A London borough attempted to make public Christian outreach a criminal offense before a legal challenge forced it to reverse course. The Christian Institute recently introduced a formal “Street Preacher’s Charter” in Parliament — because open-air preaching now requires legal protection to survive.
A nation that once sent missionaries to every corner of the earth now arrests its own for sharing the Gospel on its streets.
This is happening in a country that shaped the English-speaking world’s understanding of Scripture. The same nation that produced William Wilberforce, Charles Spurgeon, and C.S. Lewis is quietly criminalizing the faith that inspired them.
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.” — John 15:18
The Gospel has always been unwelcome somewhere. It has never stopped spreading.
What do you think — should Christians in America be paying closer attention to what is happening to the church in England? #christian #truth #religion
