BIRMINGHAM, England — Two U.S. Christian preachers said they were accused by police of a hate crime after they handed out evangelical tracts on the streets of a predominantly Muslim area in Britain. Arthur Cunningham and Joseph Abraham complained to police in Birmingham, England, that a Muslim community police officer told them, "If you come back here and get beat up, well, you have been warned."
Cunningham and Abraham, backed by activist group The Christian Institute, said officer Naeem Nagutheney stopped them in a predominantly Muslim neighborhood, told them they could not preach there and accused them of committing a hate crime by trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
"He was very intimidating, and it concerns me that somebody holding his views can become a police officer, albeit at PCSO level," said Abraham. A PCSO is a police constable support officer, a relatively low-level member of the police force recruited to help authorities patrol communities. Abraham was born a Muslim in Egypt but became a Christian after he gained U.S. citizenship. Cunningham was identified as an American Baptist missionary. Nagutheney joined the West Midlands Police after eight months on unemployment rolls.
West Midlands Police authorities said in a statement that the officer "has been offered guidance about what constitutes a hate crime and advice on communications style," although they insisted that he had acted "with the best of intentions."
Cunningham, however, said he was "dumbfounded that the police seem so nonchalant. … This is a free country, and to suggest that we were guilty of a hate crime for spreading God’s word is outrageous."
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