As I reported some months ago, ThoughtCrime is officially an offense in Ingsoc, now. To that, we can now add that Christianity is an “offense”.
Never mind if spittle-flecked men in dresses chant that they want to “Kill TERFs” (i.e., women). Thousands of Muslims can threaten to “behead those who insult the Prophet”, and police won’t so much as bat an eyelid.
But if Christians silently pray where the state says they can’t, they’re nicked.
A pro-life activist was arrested for the second time Tuesday for the “offense” of silently praying in her head near an abortion facility in a so-called censorship or “buffer zone” in Birmingham, England.
“Silently praying in her head”: in other words, thinking. Which is a crime. A ThoughtCrime.
And the Thought Police are going to bail up any Wrong Thinkers, no matter what.
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce‘s arrest comes only weeks after the court cleared her of criminal charges for breaking a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) which enforces a censorship zone around the abortion facility, according to an Alliance Defending Freedom UK press release.
Since when does footling stuff like courts matter, in a police state?
“I’m not protesting, I’m not engaging in any of the activities prohibited,” Vaughn-Spruce told officers during her second encounter when they asked her to step outside the exclusion zone.
“But you said you are engaging in prayer, which is the offense,” the officer responded.
“Silent prayer,” she responded.
“No, but you were still engaging in prayer,” he said. “It is an offense.”
“You are engaging in prayer, which is the offense.”
“Police shouldn’t be asking ‘What are you thinking about?!’”, [MP Andrew Lewer] said, according to ADF UK. “Censorship of this sort is a notoriously slippery slope. It might not be your thoughts that are criminalised today, but I think we should all be careful not to open the door to that tomorrow about some other opinions that people may hold about something else.”
Today it’s abortion, but tomorrow it could be another contested matter of political debate, Jeremiah Igunnubole, Legal Counsel for ADF UK, said in a statement. “The principle remains that the government should never be able to punish anyone for prayer, let alone silent prayer.”
“Today’s vote marks a watershed moment for fundamental rights and freedoms in our country,” he said. “Parliament had an opportunity to reject the criminalisation of free thought, which is an absolute right, and embrace individual liberty for all. Instead, Parliament chose to endorse censorship and criminalise peaceful activities such as silent prayer and consensual conversation.”
Like all police states, the laws are so contradictory as to be arbitrary. Which is the point: if no one really knows what’s legal or not, police can arrest them more or less on a whim.
Birmingham’s authorities established a buffer zone around abortion clinics, which makes it illegal for an individual to engage in any act or attempted act of approval or disapproval as it relates to abortion and includes “verbal or written means” like “prayer or counseling.”
“Any act or attempted act of approval or disapproval as it relates to abortion”? So, does that mean that encouraging someone to enter a clinic for an abortion is illegal? What about merely opening the door for them? “Verbal or written means”? Does this mean that signing a consent form — an act of approval for an abortion — is illegal?
Don’t be silly. We all know what the coppers are solely bent on stamping out in Britain, these days.
“There seems to be crime happening that is left unaddressed,” A local resident named Edel, who lives close to the abortion facility near where Vaughn-Spruce was arrested said, according to ADF. “And yet it is the people who are praying who are being targeted.”
Fox News
It’s almost like there’s an agenda.