TEXAS GOSPEL STAFF

A 78-year-old retired pastor with no prior criminal record has been convicted and fined in Northern Ireland after preaching a sermon near a hospital abortion buffer zone, a case that has drawn international attention and renewed debate over the limits of free speech and religious expression.

Clive Johnston, a former president of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, was found guilty on two counts by a district judge following a July 2024 open-air service he held on a public sidewalk across from Causeway Hospital. He was fined £450.

Prosecutors argued Johnston had conducted a protest capable of influencing a “protected person” near the edge of a hospital buffer zone, and that he failed to comply with police orders to leave the area.

Johnston and his legal team at The Christian Institute maintain the conviction was unjust. They say he carried no banners or placards, made no mention of abortion, and delivered a sermon drawn from John 3:16, one of the most familiar passages in Christian scripture.

“It was a small open-air Sunday service near a hospital,” Johnston said. “I did not harass, threaten, or verbally attack anyone.”

Johnston said police video evidence supports his account, and he described the conviction as deeply troubling given what he called an overly broad application of the buffer zone law.

The Christian Institute plans to appeal the ruling.

US evangelist Franklin Graham drew wider attention to the case through a post on Facebook, saying Johnston had simply preached the Gospel without any reference to abortion. Graham said he hoped the legal team would succeed on appeal.