Apparently in Great Britain these days you can be arrested for merely expressing an opinion.
According to the story in The Daily Mail, a Christian couple, Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang were engaged in a conversation with Muslim woman was staying at a small hotel they own in Liverpool:
It is understood that they suggested that Mohammed, the founder of Islam,
was a warlord and that traditional Muslim dress for women was a form of bondage.
They deny, however, that their comments were threatening and argue that
they had every right to defend and explain their beliefs.
Apparently not under British law.
The use by the police of the Public Order Act to arrest people over
offensive comments has dismayed a number of lawyers, who say the legislation was
passed to deal with law and order problems in the streets.
Neil Addison, a prominent criminal barrister and expert in religious
law, said: ‘The purpose of the Public Order Act is to prevent disorder, but I’m
very concerned that the police are using it merely because someone is offended.
This, for want of a better term, is horse hockey. No person should ever face persecution for stating an opinion, even if it is an unpopular opinion. The way that civilized people handle differences is to ignore them.
We have seen many in our own country trying to stifle honest discussion and debate by calling disagreement "racism." How long will it be before someone proposes actual speech codes?
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