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Help ensure that our thoughts cannot be criminalised!

Help ensure that our thoughts cannot be criminalised!
petition author imageADFUK - started this petition to The Right Honourable Sir Keir Starmer KCB KC MP - 2023/10/12

Update – 20 November 2024:

In September 2024, Adam Smith-Connor, a military veteran and father, was convicted for silently praying in a Bournemouth abortion "buffer zone."

In a chilling judgment, the court ruled that his private thoughts—a simple prayer—were unlawful, marking a grave moment for British freedoms.

Despite no complaints from members of the public, Adam was convicted and ordered to pay £9,000 of the prosecution’s legal costs.

This case has set a dangerous precedent in the UK: silent thoughts and personal reflections can now be criminalised.

So, what happens next?

Thankfully, due to the overwhelming support from people like you, a crowdfunding campaign in October raised the £9,000 Adam was ordered to pay in approximately 24 hours.

Adam’s legal team, supported by ADF UK, has now filed an appeal to this unjust decision.

With the fight not yet over. Adam needs your continued support.

One of the best ways you can support Adam now is by sending him a message of encouragement. Your words will show him that he is not alone in this battle for basic freedoms.

How can we, as a nation, champion human rights across the world and yet be the first Western country to criminalise thought and prayer?


Will you write to the Prime Minister to uphold human rights for all people? The criminalisation of Christian thought sets a dangerous precedent and opens the door to a two-tier society where individuals are penalised simply because of the beliefs they hold.


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Original text – 27 August 2024


Due in court for a thought?! We know free speech is already under threat, but the state has started prosecuting people for their silent prayers, too.


This must stop.


Adam Smith-Connor's court hearing is on 17-19 September. His “crime”? Bournemouth’s local authorities are taking the military veteran, husband, and father to court for silently praying in silent reflection for his deceased son” [who lost his life at the hands of an abortion] and for those facing difficult decisions relating to abortion and within an abortion facility censorship zone.


Adam prayed silently and with his back to the facility.


In fact, if Adam had been praying about climate change or anything else, there would be no upcoming court date.


It wasn’t his actions that were unlawful but the contents of his thoughts, deemed as “express[ing] disapproval” of abortion.


He isn’t the first.


Ensuring that the Orwellian concept of ‘thought crime’ doesn’t become a reality, ADF UK supported Catholic priest Fr Sean Gough, who was found “not guilty” after facing criminal charges for similar actions to Adam in a locally imposed buffer zone in Birmingham. Fr Sean was fully acquitted.


Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was also found “not guilty” after being charged with four counts of breaching a censorship zone by praying silently. In September 2023, West Midlands Police dropped their six-month investigation into her actions and issued an apology for their handling of the matter. In August 2023, they finally acknowledged a breach of her fundamental rights by compensating her with £13,000.


But, it will take more than an apology and compensation to protect free thought and speech.


As of now, five councils across the UK have active “buffer zones” or censorship zones banning prayer and even consensual conversations with women on the public streets near abortion facilities.


And sadly, in March 2023, Parliament passed national censorship zone legislation, which has been described as “the greatest attack on freedom and choice in the UK.”


The UK is becoming an international embarrassment due to these cases.


How can we, as a nation, champion human rights across the world and yet be the first Western country to criminalise thought and prayer?


Will you write to the Prime Minister to uphold human rights for all people? The criminalisation of Christian thought sets a dangerous precedent and opens the door to a two-tier society where individuals are penalised simply because of the beliefs they hold.


More information:

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Let's get to 50,000

Dear Prime Minister,


Freedom of thought is one of our most basic and precious rights and has long been recognised in British law and every major human rights document from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights onwards.


Yet this hard-fought-for right is under threat in the wake of recent criminal proceedings against Isabel Vaughan-Spruce (twice) and Fr Sean Gough, who were subjected to arrest and prosecution for the thoughts taking place in the privacy of their mind near abortion centres before being acquitted by the criminal courts and compensated by the police.


Most recently, Adam Smith-Connor was subject to an unprecedented prosecution by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole for briefly praying silently for his deceased son. No member of the public complained about his behaviour, and he was informed by the police a week prior that his actions were entirely lawful in England. It was a harmless, victimless act based solely on the content of his imperceptible thoughts. Prosecutions such as these are absurd, tyrannical and Orwellian – they have no place in a free and democratic society that takes pride in its defence of fundamental rights.


Prime Minister, freedom of thought is an absolute and inviolable right that cannot be subject to state interference under any circumstances. Acknowledging this principle, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recently issued guidance noting that silent prayer is “not necessarily” a crime unless accompanied by “overt” conduct.


It is deeply concerning that local councils have been allowed to ignore CPS guidance through powers permitting them to introduce Public Spaces Protection Orders (“PSPOs”). These powers were introduced by Parliament to curb antisocial behaviour and force dog owners to pick up their dog waste. However, they have now routinely been used by Councils to create, investigate and prosecute thoughtcrimes. Antisocial behaviour “buffer zones” have quickly become thought and speech-restricting “censorship zones”.


Prime Minister, you were elected on a clear manifesto commitment to “uphold human rights and international law,” both of which protect thoughts (including those raised to God in silent prayer) as an absolute right. Your government cannot plausibly claim to have fulfilled this commitment if police officers and ideological councils continue to target Christians for prayer and holding pro-life views.


The slippery slope is clear; if the criminal law requires us to refrain from ‘offensive’ thoughts anywhere, there is simply no logical endpoint. Today, it’s pro-life views that offend progressive social orthodoxies; tomorrow, it could be gender-critical views and gender-critical buffer zones. A genuinely democratic society must champion diversity of thought and the free and frank exchange of views.


We cannot consistently champion human rights abroad while negating the most basic rights at home.


Prime Minister, please act urgently to ensure that thought is never buffered, censored or criminalised.



Will you act to protect our fundamental freedom of thought in the UK?