Now that the U.K. has gone from post-Christian to secular-totalitarian it should probably come as no surprise that preaching in public is against the law, although Pastor Oluwole Ilesanmi was still stunned when he was arrested back in February for doing that very thing ~
Ilesanmi, 64, was detained by the Metropolitan Police, accused of “breaching the peace” and “Islamophobia” in February outside a London subway station.
In a video that went viral, taken by Ambrosine Shitrit, Ilesanmi can be seen protesting ” Don’t take my Bible!” as two officers handcuffed him and reportedly responded: “You should have thought about that before being racist.” […]
The 64-year-old street preacher was then driven five miles away, beyond the area where he could use his metro card, and left with no means to pay for his ticket home, according to Christian Concern, the group that represented Ilesanmi. But all he wanted to do was get back to Southgate and start preaching again.
The U.K. Daily Mail spoke with the woman who videotaped the incident ~
Ambrosine Shitrit was passing by when she saw Mr Ilesanmi debating with a Muslim man who she said was becoming aggressive.
She said: ‘The preacher was fearless, but if I hadn’t started filming he would have been attacked. He was not breaching the peace and in no way had he been Islamophobic. I would’ve been the first person to have said something if he had been.’
While Pastor Ilesanmi’s story does have a mostly happy ending – he was just awarded more than $3,000 in damages for wrongful arrest – the whole episode is a sorry commentary on how a nation whose foundation and entire history is rooted in Christianity has strayed so far from its roots ~
“When I came to the UK it was a free Christian country, but now preachers like me are being arrested for speaking the truth,” he added. “Christians and freedom of speech must be protected, especially by the government and police.” ~ Pastor Oluwole Ilesanmi
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Related:
Christian street preacher to receive £2,500 payout from Met Police after wrongful arrest ~
Pastor Oluwole said: “I am glad that the police have recognised that it was not right to arrest me for preaching from the Bible. It was traumatic being arrested and left many miles from my home. But God was always with me and even though I was left in a place I did not know, I was determined to get back to Southgate and start preaching the gospel again.
