By Thomas Holland –
A man in the United Kingdom has been arrested, convicted and sentenced for a thought crime.
He was praying silently near an abortion clinic.
“Today, the court has decided that certain thoughts – silent thoughts – can be illegal in the United Kingdom,” said Adam Smith-Connor on MorningStar news after being sentenced. “That cannot be right. All I did was pray to God, in the privacy of my own mind and yet I stand convicted as a criminal?”
The free world has come to this.
Adam Smith-Connor was praying silently in within the 150-meter “buffer zone” near an abortion clinic in Bournemouth in November 2022 when he was approached by authorities who asked what he was doing.
Startled, he responded sincerely. He had been drawn to the “British Pregnancy Advisory Service” facility because it was similar to the one his son had been aborted in two decades earlier. He was praying within his own mind.
On Oct. 16, 2024, British courts ordered him to pay a fine of £9000 – about $11,000.
“We can hardly sink any lower in our neglect of basic fundamental freedoms of free speech and thought,” said Jeremiah Igunnubole, legal counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom International. “It’s a legal turning point of immense proportions.”
A former member of the U.K.’s Parliament, Miriam Cates, went even further in her expression of shock.
“This isn’t 1984, but 2024,” Cates said. “Nobody should be on trial for the mere thoughts they hold in their mind.”
Cates is referring to George Orwell’s book 1984, which described a dystopian society and government so totalitarian that even wrong thoughts were a crime. In Orwell’s novel, thought crime consisted of thinking critically of the government. In the U.K., it now consists of thinking critically of abortion.
The U.K. is not cracking down on any or all prayers; it is only interpreted as hostile towards abortion seekers if it is done within the 150-meter buffer zone (approx. 492 feet). You may pray against abortion outside of the zone. Inside the zone, it is considered by various U.K. municipalities to be on par with protesting or threatening abortion seekers.
Another catch to the law is that authorities can’t read your mind. You may be praying in the buffer zone; they may suspect you of praying. But their only evidence is your response to their question: Are you praying here?
Progressives in political entities in the U.K. say the buffer zones keep abortion clinics free from harassment. ADF calls them censorship zones and a breach of the Human Rights Act of 1998.
The U.K. has various laws authorizing more so-called Public Spaces Protection Orders set to go into effect.
Smith-Connor’s sentencing came after a similar case resulted in a civil court award for a woman praying outside a clinic in West Midlands. Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested twice in November 2022, but ultimately was exonerated.
She sued and won a $17K settlement from West Midlands police for wrongful arrest.
“It is disgraceful that in Britain in 2024 someone can be put on trial for praying silently in his head,” said Sir Edmund Leigh. “Unfortunately we have seen repeated cases of free speech under threat in the U.K. when it comes to the expression of Christian beliefs.”
If you want to know more about a personal relationship with God, go here
About this writer: Thomas Holland studies at the Lighthouse Christian Academy near in Los Angeles.
