CV NEWS FEED // A Bristol-based Christian pastor and father of four has won his case against English law enforcement after being unlawfully censored.
According to an Alliance Defending Freedom press release, Dia Moodley won his case against the Avon and Somerset Police Force, who “conceded their restrictions on free speech were ‘disproportionate.’”
The police force had issued Moodley a “Community Protection Notice,” which prohibited him from engaging in street evangelization. The notice banned Moodley from “passing comments on any other religion or comparing them to Christianity” and from “passing comments on beliefs held by Atheists or those who believe in evolution.”
Moodley, who is African American, has been preaching on the streets for the past five years, and initially had support from the police force, which began to stand guard during his public preaching to ward off racial violence, according to the release.
However, at a meeting he arranged with the neighborhood police force “to maintain good working relations,” law enforcement served Moodley the notice, “which he refused to sign.”
The release pointed out that the warning notice “encroached on Moodley’s right to freedom of expression” by attempting to regulate the content and frequency of his speech.
“Thankfully, with support from ADF UK and the Free Speech Union, I have received some measure of justice after having been wrongfully silenced by authorities,” Moodley said after the decision. “But this creeping culture of censorship is detrimental to all of us in society, whatever we believe, and we must challenge it wherever we see it.”
Legal Counsel for ADF UK, Jeremiah Igunnubole stated in reaction to the settlement that “Dia Moodley’s case exposes a clear double standard in British policing when the issue concerns the expression of core beliefs; particularly Christian beliefs,” adding:
Whilst we welcome the police force’s admission that their actions were disproportionate, it is crucial that the laws permitting such flagrant violations of freedom of speech are urgently addressed to prevent the need for Dia and others like him from being embroiled in years of legal proceedings only to defend what should have instantly been recognised as their lawful, peaceful and constitutional rights to speak freely in public
