A free country is not one in which one can do whatever one wills. That is anarchy and chaos. A free country is one in which the liberties of its members are sufficiently protected that they can do what is good.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a pro-life charity volunteer who has provided support to vulnerable women and children for many years, was arrested by police on the 6th of December for stopping to silently pray on the pavement near an abortion facility in Birmingham.
Here is how the exchange went between Vaughan-Spruce and the police officer:
Police officer: “What are you here for today?”
Vaughan-Spruce: “Physically, I’m just standing here.”
Police officer: “Why here of all places? I know you don’t live nearby.”
Vaughan-Spruce: “This is an abortion centre.”
Police officer: “Okay. That’s why you’re stood here. Are you standing here as part of a protest?”
Vaughan-Spruce: “No. I’m not protesting.”
Police officer: “Are you praying?”
Vaughan-Spruce: “I might be praying in my head, but not out loud.”
…
Police officer: “You’re under arrest…”
Let’s take stock for a moment: the killing of unborn people is now so highly treasured and protected in the UK, that were someone to have thoughts—that’s right, thoughts—that disapproved of abortion, and if one were to have those thoughts in the wrong location (near an abortion facility), one may be arrested by the police.
We have long been alarmed that UK police are engaged in the policing of thought, and they have demonstrated this fact by arresting and punishing those who tweet the ‘wrong’ opinions. Such abuse of police power, however, is justified by them under various ‘hate crime’ legislation. It’s not that such people thought the ‘wrong’ thoughts, we’re told, but that they voiced them.
Now, however, we see a woman being arrested because she stopped near an abortion facility—which was closed on that day—and proceeded to have the ‘wrong’ thoughts without ever having voiced them. She had thoughts that were directed to God in prayer, and presumably petitioned Him to bring an end to abortion by His omnipotence, and apparently to the police officers who appeared on the scene such prayerful thoughts are criminal.
Would Ms. Vaughan-Spruce have been arrested had she said, when asked if she was praying, “No, I’ve just stopped to catch my breath,” or “No, I just like this part of Birmingham,” or even, “Yes, I’m praying; this in an abortion centre and I’m praying for a continuation of abortion, because I think abortion is wonderful”? I think it very unlikely that she would have been arrested after any of these replies. She was arrested because she stopped and had the ‘wrong’ thoughts in that location. She was arrested, and will now have a police record—and perhaps soon a criminal record, following the court hearing—because she committed in this Orwellian country of ours what can only be called a ‘thought-crime.’
A free country is not one in which one can do whatever one wills. That is anarchy and chaos. A free country is one in which the liberties of its members are sufficiently protected that they can, by their own volition, do what is good. What was so heinous about the 20th century ideologies that competed across the globe in horrific wars was that they prevented those who lived under them from doing what is good, and forced these peoples by coercion to do what is evil. Well, the UK is now a land where one can be punished for doing what is good—and that even means punished for having noble thoughts.
We are accustomed to boasting of our liberties in these isles, but we are left asking: what liberties, given that one may be arrested for thought-crime? As Ms. Vaughan-Spruce, following her arrest, told the Alliance Defending Freedom UK, a faith-based legal advocacy organization:
It’s abhorrently wrong that I was searched, arrested, interrogated by police, and charged simply for praying in the privacy of my own mind. Censorship zones purport to ban harassment, which is already illegal. Nobody should ever be subject to harassment. But what I did was the furthest thing from harmful—I was exercising my freedom of thought, my freedom of religion, inside the privacy of my own mind. Nobody should be criminalised for thinking and for praying in a public space in the UK.
I’m informed that the police officers who came to question, search, arrest, and interrogate Vaughan-Spruce had taken advice before charging her with breaking a Public Spaces Protection Order, which, according to the UK government’s website, is in place to “deal with nuisance or problems in an area that cause harm to the quality of life of the local community.”
Leaving aside the problem of the rise of progressively ambiguous legislation in the UK, to which police often have recourse to deploy increasingly ideologically-driven coercion, we may rightly ask: how was Ms. Vaughan-Spruce a “nuisance,” given that she was just standing there saying nothing, and how did she “cause harm to the quality of life of the local community”? Even those who want to claim that her very presence that day was a ‘nuisance’ to those seeking the services of the abortion facility are on rather thin ice, as the facility was closed on the day she stopped on the pavement to silently pray.
Indeed, one may reasonably wonder how it is that UK citizens are repeatedly told by their local police forces that there are insufficient personnel to address even remotely the problems of joyriding, knife-crime, and drug-dealing, but the West Midlands Police were able to send out three officers to arrest a lady for her ‘crime’ of prayer? Behold a country in which evil goes unpunished and decent people are arrested.
As a friend of mine recently put it, “If we’ve learned anything over the past two years, it’s that when it comes to unthinkingly following orders, the UK police make the SS look like contrarian, anarchist hippies.” We’re rapidly moving into a very bleak social situation regarding the use and abuse of poorly written legislation by a police force that has utterly lost its way. This incident is just the latest in an ever-longer line of deeply disturbing police actions in our new, menacing regime.
Sebastian Morello is a lecturer, public speaker, and writer. He has published books on philosophy, religion, politics, history, and education. He lives in Bedfordshire, England, with his wife and children, and is senior editor and editorial board member of The European Conservative.
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The Day a Woman Was Arrested for Silently Praying
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, a pro-life charity volunteer who has provided support to vulnerable women and children for many years, was arrested by police on the 6th of December for stopping to silently pray on the pavement near an abortion facility in Birmingham.
Here is how the exchange went between Vaughan-Spruce and the police officer:
Let’s take stock for a moment: the killing of unborn people is now so highly treasured and protected in the UK, that were someone to have thoughts—that’s right, thoughts—that disapproved of abortion, and if one were to have those thoughts in the wrong location (near an abortion facility), one may be arrested by the police.
We have long been alarmed that UK police are engaged in the policing of thought, and they have demonstrated this fact by arresting and punishing those who tweet the ‘wrong’ opinions. Such abuse of police power, however, is justified by them under various ‘hate crime’ legislation. It’s not that such people thought the ‘wrong’ thoughts, we’re told, but that they voiced them.
Now, however, we see a woman being arrested because she stopped near an abortion facility—which was closed on that day—and proceeded to have the ‘wrong’ thoughts without ever having voiced them. She had thoughts that were directed to God in prayer, and presumably petitioned Him to bring an end to abortion by His omnipotence, and apparently to the police officers who appeared on the scene such prayerful thoughts are criminal.
Would Ms. Vaughan-Spruce have been arrested had she said, when asked if she was praying, “No, I’ve just stopped to catch my breath,” or “No, I just like this part of Birmingham,” or even, “Yes, I’m praying; this in an abortion centre and I’m praying for a continuation of abortion, because I think abortion is wonderful”? I think it very unlikely that she would have been arrested after any of these replies. She was arrested because she stopped and had the ‘wrong’ thoughts in that location. She was arrested, and will now have a police record—and perhaps soon a criminal record, following the court hearing—because she committed in this Orwellian country of ours what can only be called a ‘thought-crime.’
A free country is not one in which one can do whatever one wills. That is anarchy and chaos. A free country is one in which the liberties of its members are sufficiently protected that they can, by their own volition, do what is good. What was so heinous about the 20th century ideologies that competed across the globe in horrific wars was that they prevented those who lived under them from doing what is good, and forced these peoples by coercion to do what is evil. Well, the UK is now a land where one can be punished for doing what is good—and that even means punished for having noble thoughts.
We are accustomed to boasting of our liberties in these isles, but we are left asking: what liberties, given that one may be arrested for thought-crime? As Ms. Vaughan-Spruce, following her arrest, told the Alliance Defending Freedom UK, a faith-based legal advocacy organization:
I’m informed that the police officers who came to question, search, arrest, and interrogate Vaughan-Spruce had taken advice before charging her with breaking a Public Spaces Protection Order, which, according to the UK government’s website, is in place to “deal with nuisance or problems in an area that cause harm to the quality of life of the local community.”
Leaving aside the problem of the rise of progressively ambiguous legislation in the UK, to which police often have recourse to deploy increasingly ideologically-driven coercion, we may rightly ask: how was Ms. Vaughan-Spruce a “nuisance,” given that she was just standing there saying nothing, and how did she “cause harm to the quality of life of the local community”? Even those who want to claim that her very presence that day was a ‘nuisance’ to those seeking the services of the abortion facility are on rather thin ice, as the facility was closed on the day she stopped on the pavement to silently pray.
Indeed, one may reasonably wonder how it is that UK citizens are repeatedly told by their local police forces that there are insufficient personnel to address even remotely the problems of joyriding, knife-crime, and drug-dealing, but the West Midlands Police were able to send out three officers to arrest a lady for her ‘crime’ of prayer? Behold a country in which evil goes unpunished and decent people are arrested.
As a friend of mine recently put it, “If we’ve learned anything over the past two years, it’s that when it comes to unthinkingly following orders, the UK police make the SS look like contrarian, anarchist hippies.” We’re rapidly moving into a very bleak social situation regarding the use and abuse of poorly written legislation by a police force that has utterly lost its way. This incident is just the latest in an ever-longer line of deeply disturbing police actions in our new, menacing regime.
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