Kentucky Baptist Danny Davis was stunned when he heard that a close friend was in trouble with the law. The friend, Clive Johnston, was found guilty of breaching a Northern Ireland abortion clinic’s “safe access zone” while preaching an open-air sermon.
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Davis, retired associational mission strategist for the Tates Creek Baptist Church Association, has known Johnston for 20 years, dating back to when Davis pastored in Virginia.
Johnston, 78, was found guilty by a district judge at a May 7 hearing. He was convicted on two charges under the Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act after holding an open-air service on the edge of the buffer zone outside Causeway Hospital in Coleraine in July 2024.
Recent visit
Davis said he was surprised his friend was found guilty after the case had been “getting kicked down the road” for a year. Davis and his wife, Sandy, visited Northern Ireland in March and stayed with Johnston and his wife.
“When I was talking with Clive, he felt like he would be found guilty and probably have to pay some sort of fine,” Davis said. “For me personally, I thought it would get dismissed after they kept kicking it down the road, maybe over the embarrassment that this event happened. But that didn’t happen. I was surprised when they found him guilty.”
Plans for appeal
Johnston, a former president of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, plans to appeal the conviction, Davis said, “which needs to happen. If this thing stands, it’s a terrible precedent that others would build upon to silence Christians.”
The grandfather of seven faces a criminal record and a fine of around $600, according to The Christian Institute, which has supported his case.
“Despite assurances to the contrary when this legislation was being considered, we now see that an already controversial and deeply unjust law has now been selectively applied to criminalize gospel preaching,” said Ciarán Kelly, director of The Christian Institute.
‘Creeping censorship’
“This is creeping censorship. If the ruling stands, it will represent a shocking new restriction on freedom of religion and freedom of speech, so we will be helping Clive consider his options for appeal,” Kelly said.
Davis remains hopeful about his friend’s appeal. He noted that Northern Ireland is predominantly Protestant, unlike the Republic of Ireland, which is largely Catholic.
“He was within proximity of an abortion facility, but he did not speak against abortions whatsoever,” Davis said. “He was doing an outdoor gathering and preaching to anyone who would listen. He wanted people to hear the John 3:16 message. The language wasn’t bad at all.”
Johnston called his conviction a “dark day for Christian freedom.”
“We made no reference whatsoever to the issue of abortion. And yet the buffer zones law is so broad that holding a Sunday service has been found to be a criminal offense. And at 78 years of age, I find myself, for the first time, convicted of a crime,” Johnston said.
“I know it was an unusual place to hold an open-air service, but that was the point: There shouldn’t be any public spaces in Northern Ireland where you can be prosecuted and convicted simply for preaching the gospel.”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Mark Maynard and originally published by Kentucky Today.
