Pastor Steve Maile was arrested in London, England — for preaching the gospel. No other reason.

 

A Pastor is Arrested in the U.K.

 

For preaching the Gospel.

 

May 28, 2026

By  

Reprinted from Frontpage Magazine

 

How bad have things become for religious freedom in the U.K.? How bullying have the police become in hounding Christian preachers off the streets? This bad: Lifesite News reported Tuesday that “a pastor was arrested in London for criticizing the violence of Islam as he preached the Gospel in the street.”

Is Islam a violent religion? A reading of the Qur’an and the hadith, both of which encourage violence against all non-Muslims, would certainly support that conclusion. And the violent behavior of so many Muslims, against both non-Muslims and against rival sects of Muslims, offers further support.

The pastor compared Islam with Christianity’s message —which those who call themselves Christians do not always follow — of peace, and claimed that Islam was a violent religion. Was his expressing his opinion an offense against the law? The pastor, Steve Maile, did not preach hatred for Muslims. He simply offered his opinion that, after studying the texts and tenets of Islam, and the observable behavior of Muslims around the world, he found it reasonable to conclude that Islam is “a violent religion.”

“It’s called inciting religious hatred — which is false,” Mailesaid. “The cross of Christ is a message of hope, love, mercy, and reconciliation to a fallen world. … How could that be hate?”Indeed. Maile “had been peacefully singing and preaching for around 10 minutes … calling people to repentance” and “discussing whether Islam is a religion of peace” when he was arrested. “He criticised the history of violent Islam but said he had compassion and wanted Muslims to be saved by Jesus.”

Also, “video footage of Maile’s arrest shows an officer telling the pastor there was an allegation he had assaulted a child.” A preposterous charge, which the police made up out of whole cloth to justify their treatment of Paster Maile. It was immediately dropped once he had been cuffed and taken to the station.

Maile declared: “There is no offence being committed here. None whatsoever. This is an utter disgrace. I’ve not assaulted anyone.” However, it is also illegal in the U.K. to use “threatening or abusive words or behavior, or disorderly behavior” in front of someone who is “likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby.”

Did the pastor use “threatening or abusive words or behavior” or display “disorderly behavior”? There is no mention of any. He was preaching the Gospel, not shouting it out, not grabbing people by the lapels and forcing them to stop and listen, because if he had done any of that, the police would have reported it. It’s clear that the police were enforcing an irrelevant regulation in order to shut down someone who, according to some quick-to-anger thin-skinned Muslims, caused them “harassment, alarm, or distress.”

There is no sign that Pastor Maile “harassed” anybody. He did not touch anyone. He did not yell at anyone. He did not try to make people stay and listen. He simply stood in public — on a sidewalk? At a park? At Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park? — and preached the Gospel, with a single remark about Islam being a “violent religion.”

Surely that is not enough to constitute “hate speech.” And he did this for all of ten minutes before the police arrested him, cuffed him, and took him in a police car to jail. 

Pastor Maile is guiltless. He did not touch or threaten anyone physically. He only compared the teachings of Christ with the teachings of Muhammad, and noted the violence of the latter. He was only ten minutes into his speech when the police came, arrested him, put handcuffs on him, and took him to prison.

Did a Muslim who had heard the pastor speak and wanted to have him quickly shut up call the police to the scene, or was it a policeman who heard Pastor Maile speak and called for backup in order to arrest him?

The police in the U.K. have a lot to answer for. For years, they did nothing about the Pakistani grooming gangs that seduced, drugged, and used as sex slaves tens of thousands of British girls, ruining their lives. The police did not make a move against these Muslim gangs, for fear of being called “Islamophobes” and “racists,.” until pressure from some crusaders in parliament and the media who kept talking about the “grooming gangs” forced them to act.

Now, with this arrest of an inoffensive Christian sidewalk preacher, the police have shown themselves still eager to do the bidding of Muslims. This is such an egregious example of the authorities “protecting Islam” that I hope it is given wide coverage, as one more instance of British pusillanimity and submission to Muslims. This has to stop.