Preacher Arrested for Saying Homosexuality is a Sin in England
A preacher was arrested on a public sidewalk in front of the Center Court Complex during the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in England after a woman called the police to complain she was offended by the minister's words on homosexuality.
Tony Miano, currently a pastor and formerly a Los Angeles Deputy Sheriff, was fingerprinted, interrogated, and had DNA samples drawn after speaking on 1 Thessalonians, which mentions "sexual immorality" and cites homosexuality along with "fornication" as examples of what is against "God's law."
He was traveling to the U.K. with Sports Fan Outreach International as part of a mission to spread the good news to England.
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"As the questioning started it became apparent that the interrogation was about more than the incident that took place in the street, but what I believed and how I think," Tony Miano said in an interview with The Telegraph. "I was being interrogated about my thoughts … that is the basic definition of thought police."
As a former officer of the law, Miano spoke about how arresting people based on actions and not what they believed is usually how the law works.
"It surprised me that it is possible for a person to be taken to jail for their thoughts," he continued. "It surprised me that here in the country that produced the Magna Carta, that an otherwise law-abiding person could lose his freedom because one person was offended by the content of my speech."
During Miano's interrogation he was asked all sorts of questions about his faith, some seeming more ridiculous and unnecessary as the next.
"It was surreal because I was interrogated about my faith in Jesus Christ," Miano told ChristianNews.net. "I was asked if I believe that homosexuality is a sin. I was asked what portion of the Bible I was reading. I was asked if a homosexual was hungry and walked up to me, would I give them something to eat."
Police then asked whether Miano would do it again, to which he replied "yes" because he was doing nothing that was against the law. The officers then told him there was nothing left to do but prosecute him.
Watch the video here.
