Evangelical leader Al Mohler said even if all charges are dropped against McAlpine, the message is clear that “the act of Christian preaching is now a potential criminal offense.”

The arrest of a street preacher has renewed concern over religious freedom for Christians in the United Kingdom.

Dale McAlpine, 42, was arrested in his home town of Workington, in Cumbria, last month after he mentioned homosexuality as one of a number of sins listed in the Bible, alongside idolatry, blasphemy, fornication, and drunkenness.

He said he refrained from speaking about homosexuality in his sermon but when a passerby inquired on the issue, told her it was a sin.

He was then approached by a gay community support officer who took him to the police station where he was detained in a cell for seven hours and charged with causing “harassment, alarm or distress.”

McAlpine, who denied the charge, was released on bail on the grounds that he cease preaching.

U.S. evangelical Dr. Albert Mohler wasn’t surprised by the arrest and said he has seen “this coming for some time now.”

“We are witnessing the constriction of Christian speech and the criminalizing of Christian ministry,” he wrote in a commentary. “The Bible clearly condemns homosexual behaviors, and the Christian church has been clear about this teaching for twenty centuries. But now, the statement that homosexuality is a sin can land a preacher in jail.”

READ MORE: http://www.dakotavoice.com/2010/05/preachers-arrest-renews-religious-freedom-concerns/