Judge convicts UK evangelist for quoting Bible verses condemning homosexuality
TAUNTON, UK , April 2, 2015 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) – A judge has convicted and fined a street evangelist for quoting one verse of the Bible that condemns homosexuality on the streets of Taunton, Somerset -- instead of quoting another verse. Judge Shamim Ahmed Qureshi of Bristol Crown Court fined former paratrooper-turned- Christian-evangelist Mike Overd £200 ($297 U.S.), and ordered him to pay £1,200 ($1,780) in costs which included £250 ($371) compensation to the homosexual activist who lodged the complaint. Judge Qureshi also told Overd that he should not have quoted a passage from the 20th chapter of the Old Testament Book of Leviticus , which calls for the death penalty for Israelites who engage in sodomy. Qureshi said that Overd should instead have used Leviticus 18:22, which merely describes homosexual practice as an "abomination." “I am amazed that the judge sees it as his role to dictate which parts of the Bible can and can't be preached,” the evangel