Street preachers/ religion representatives - should they be allowed?

[Shmoigel]

Today I have visited Manchester and it’s really struck me how many different street preachers were on microphones in the street. I also had about 10 people trying to hand me cards for various religious organisations.

It was rather overwhelming! On one street there was at least 7 people yelling on microphones about their various religions.

I consider myself a Christian but AIBU that there should be some control over them.

I would rather live in a more free country than less free.
So no, we should not be banning more non illegal activities.

I think it should be banned.

I'm sick of the guy in Birmingham who shouts about Jesus and the end coming. He's quite intimate and has told me I'm going to hell for being an atheist before now.

It's basically heckling. How it isn't classed as harassment is beyond me.

We have freedom of speech so although I consider these people
mentally ill, they have the right to spout their bullshit as long as it doesn’t cross over in to hate crime language… I mean if the crazy Scientologists get to stand on the street and offer ‘stress’ test then I guess the fella screaming that we’re all going to go to hell unless we do exactly what he’s doing and believe in what he believes in is fine too.

I think they should be allowed to speak, but I also think they should not be allowed amplification on the street (I feel the same about buskers tbh). You could contact a local councillor to see if there are any enforceable bylaws about this.

I think the anti abortion demonstrators should be banned from showing explicit photos on placards on the street. I'm not against anyone being able to stand in the street and share their pov - even if I think their beliefs are batshit, the price of free speech is sometimes hearing things you vehemently disagree with. But being able to force other people to see graphic and disturbing images they haven't consented to seeing, is where it crosses the line into impinging on other people's rights to go about their lawful business freely.
The police seem very hot on protecting some groups rights but when it comes to this, they say there's nothing they can do!

As long as it’s a reasonable time and volume then I think it’s fine.

My local industrial park has a Christian religious preacher and everyone just rolls their eyes. He’s there on random mornings about 9-11am

It’a perfectly correct to ban them near abortion clinics though. If there’s other groups being directly harassed then that’s not ok either.

Street preaching has a long tradition in this country going back to the Middle Ages and I wouldn't like to see it banned altogether.

I think what causes the nuisance is when preachers are using amplifiers, especially when there's half a dozen groups all shouting down microphones at the same time - I'm thinking of outside the old Marks & Spencer building on High Street in Birmingham centre. The noise there makes it an unpleasant place to be - and goodness knows, that part of the city centre is so run down it's already pretty horrible there. Birmingham Council have recently (from this month) bought in an order that prohibits amplification of speech and music in the city centre which will be a good thing, I think.

Yes, amplification - be it speech or music ought to be licensed, at very least, and the numbers and locations should be controlled

Banning amplifiers would definitely be good.

There’s a vindictive bastard in our high street on Saturdays who stands there shouting about how anyone who doesn’t love Jesus is going to hell, usually accompanied by a load of grinning people handing out leaflets for the local evangelical church.

I walked down there very soon after my (non-religious) mum died, encountered them and had to dive into the local shopping centre because if I hadn’t got away fast I’d honestly have bellowed at them to fuck off & probably worse.

It is noise pollution, so from that point of view, it should be banned.So should buskers! The audacity of setting up speakers on public streets so that people are FORCED to listen to you
….. how is this legal?!

Its not city life without someone trying to save your soul every 5 mins 😄

Depends on how it's done, I think. People preaching but not approaching or harassing anyone is fine. Heckling at people and telling them they're going to hell should get these loonies arrested!

Last time I was in Birmingham centre there were a load of Muslims reciting something or other at full volume through speakers.

No thanks. Felt very uncomfortable.

I think people should be able to say what they want in public but microphones or megaphones should be banned. I'd also prefer that loud shouty people had to go to a designated speaker's corner. I think the microphones/loudspeakers/whatever should come under the same rules as busking, for which you usually need permission or a licence from the council.
It seems unfair that people adding to society by making music are held to higher standards than people detracting from society by wittering on about the wrath of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

I was in Manchester yesterday, walked all over the place, and only saw one guy talking through a microphone, but I couldn't make out what he was on about tbh so he might have been trying to raise awareness of his favourite ABBA member for all I know. The rest might only be weekend preachers or something. It's weird to imagine obsessive pushy evangelists of any sort managing to hold down jobs, now I think about it. Can you imagine? Manager: "Colin, have you got that health and safety report?" Colin: "Before I answer that, let me share with you the word of the Goddess of Macaroni..."

100 💯 agree about amplification.

In general I don't mind the crazies as they are mostly harmless. However, there is a woman who regularly preaches in our town centre who has SUCH an annoying voice. If she didn't have a microphone it would be more tolerable. I don't ever listen to what she says I just cringe at the droning, annoying, sing song way in which she says it.

How about people who get their primary school age children to hand out the leaflets because they think people will be more likely to take them?

I’d make it the law that they can only preach whilst standing within a 10m radius of an officially recognised church building.

No preaching allowed anywhere else.
Seems fair to me. 🤷🏻‍♀️

God, I fucking hate them. Has anyone actually been converted by a guy, on the street, yelling through a megaphone at them?

The last one of these I saw was a rabid young black man (Pentecostal?) in the centre of Leeds. He was bellowing angrily and aggressively about his Christian ideals. Gesticulations, pacing, snarling. No amplification though. I thought he was possessed or an utter lunatic. He had a single, young female lackey with him who looked like she was on the verge of death. She didnt move and looked very uncomfortable. Quite disturbing.

Absolutely not banned, they shouldn't be allowed to use speakers though.

Market Street by any chance?

It’s a free country and I just walk on by. So long as they aren’t being offensive or threatening I don’t really see the problem.

I think people should be able to promote their belief systems publicly, religious or secular. I can see the argument about noise levels though

I wouldn’t ban street preachers.

I would ban all kinds of amplification.

If you can’t make yourself heard using the voice God gave you, the. Your message isn’t worth hearing.

(There’s a JW preacher outside Farringdon station in the morning a lot. No mic, so it’s perfectly possible to just breeze past without having your eardrums ruptured.)

Hopefully, with no amplification, most people would be unable to keep up loud preaching/pontificating for very long before their voice wears out so they won't be there for hours and hours like they are now.

Yes, there’s that too!

Most buskers are way too loud, including the ones using the official spots in the tube. I would keep busking to acoustic only. I felt so sorry for a couple of young women working on one of those cupcake stalls you get on station concourses, and a busker with an amp set up right behind them, with the volume on max. They couldn’t get away from it.