A 78-year-old retired pastor was convicted and fined for preaching a gospel sermon, which included John 3:16, near a hospital in Northern Ireland. “Naturally, I was deeply saddened by the verdict,” Clive Johnston told Fox News Digital. “At 78 years old, I never imagined I would leave a courtroom with a criminal conviction for preaching the Christian gospel. But beyond the personal impact, my overriding concern is what this says about the state of fundamental freedoms in our nation,” he continued. "At 78 years old, I never imagined I would leave a courtroom with a criminal conviction for preaching the Christian gospel." Retired pastor Clive Johnston reacting after being convicted for reading John 3:16 outside a hospital in Northern Ireland. He says the case raises… pic.twitter.com/rsYp0PhIgp — Fox News (@FoxNews) May 12, 2026 Fox News explained further: On May 7, District Judge Peter King at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court convicted Johnston of breaching a “safe access zone” outside Causeway Hospital in Coleraine on July 7, 2024. Northern Ireland’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act prohibits “influencing,” “preventing or impeding access,” or “causing harassment, alarm or distress” to a protected person within 100 meters (about 328 feet) of facilities where abortions are performed. Johnston was found guilty of “influencing” inside the protected zone and fined 450 pounds, or about $614 in U.S. dollars. He may be the first person prosecuted under the law for preaching a sermon that did not mention abortion, according to the faith-based advocacy group, the Christian Institute, which supported his legal case. Johnston warned that convicting a person for publicly preaching one of the most well-known Bible passages sets a troubling precedent for religious liberty and free speech in the United Kingdom. “The buffer zone law is so broad that holding a Sunday service has been found to be a criminal offence,” Johnston said. Watch below: #NorthernIreland: “The buffer zone legislation is so broad that holding a Sunday service has been found to be a criminal offence,” says Pastor Clive Johnston after being convicted for preaching outside Causeway Hospital in Coleraine.Video (c) The Christian Institute pic.twitter.com/JNHITkH9IE — Observatory on Intolerance against Christians EU (@OIDACEurope) May 11, 2026 “It effectively redefines peaceful Christian witness as a form of unlawful ‘influence’,” Johnston told Fox News Digital. “If simply reading the Bible, praying, and preaching on God’s love can now be considered harmful because someone might overhear it within a certain area, then we have crossed a very serious line,” he continued. “John 3:16 is one of the most well-known and hope-filled verses in the Bible – a message about God’s love and salvation. If even that can be criminalized because of where it is spoken, then how can any public expression of Christian belief be truly safe from restriction?” he continued. Christianity Daily has more: The verse at the center of the case, John 3:16, is widely regarded as one of the most well-known passages in the Bible, declaring, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Before the court hearing, Simon Calvert, deputy director of The Christian Institute, defended Johnston’s actions and emphasized the non-political nature of the message. He said that John 3:16 “is a wonderful, famous verse and everyone knows it says nothing about abortion.” Calvert also criticized authorities, accusing both the police and prosecutors of exceeding appropriate limits in enforcing the law. He argued that preaching the Gospel should not be treated as equivalent to protesting abortion and warned of broader implications for free expression. “We have amazing freedom in this country to share the Christian message. That’s why we’ve taken on this case,” he said. “Prosecuting Pastor Johnston for preaching ‘God so loved the world’ near a hospital on a quiet Sunday is a shocking new attempt to restrict freedom of religion and freedom of speech in a part of the world where open-air Gospel services are a part of the culture.”