Tuesday November 8, 2005
Swedish Pastor Before Supreme Court November 9 for "Hate Speech" in Sermon
LifeSiteNews.com staff
BORGHOLM, Sweden, November 8, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), an American organization which defends the rights of Christians, is calling for prayer for the Supreme Court trial of Swedish Pastor Ake Green before the Swedish Supreme Court this Wednesday, November 9th. Pastor Green has been charged with committing a "hate crime" for preaching a sermon on homosexuality.
ADF explains that the decision on Pastor Green is likely to affect all religious leaders and is therefore of extreme importance to Christians everywhere. Pastor Green was convicted of a hate crime and sentenced by a district court to one month in prison on June 20, 2004 for preaching a sermon in which he said, "What these people need, who live under the slavery of sexual immorality, is an abundant grace. It exists. Therefore we will encourage those who live in this matter to look at the grace of Jesus Christ. We cannot condemn these people. Jesus never belittled anyone. He offered them grace." (read the full sermon here: http://www.akegreen.com/sermon_transcript.htm )
The Gota Court of Appeals overturned the conviction on February 11, 2005, but the prosecutor has appealed the case to the Supreme Court.
ADF feels Pastor Green's case is so important that it has sent ADF Chief Counsel Benjamin Bull (who founded and served for a number of years as director of a Europe-wide religious liberties legal organization based in Strasburg, France) to assist as much as possible with preparing for the trial. Bull will be meeting with Pastor Green's trial counsel to discuss the oral argument, as well as with several international Christian human rights groups in Europe, such as CARE Trust and Christian Lawyers Fellowship in Great Britain to generate further support for Pastor Green.
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