Harry's Blog

And now in the "thank heavens for that" category is the news that one of London's annoying megaphone preachers has been given an Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO). Regular readers will know these folks really annoy me, so I'm delighted to see one taken off the street.

Unfortunately though the ASBO served on Philip Howard from using a megaphone or other amplification and not from spouting his skewed view of Christianity at passers by.

Westminster City Council said that it had been forced to bring the action at Horseferry Road Magistrates' Court after attempts to strike a deal with Howard, whose address was given as a hotel in Paddington, to curtail his activities failed.

The order forces the preacher to rely on his God-given amplification to get his message across. The court was told that Howard had used the megaphone to verbally harass individual members of the public at Oxford Circus and on a traffic island on Regent Street as well as preaching at shoppers near Selfridges. He is said to have told one passer-by "you're a sinner", adding "Buddhist with Buddhist hair" and "King of sinners".

You may wonder why I, a Christian, am so bothered by this kind of thing. Well the reason is two fold. Firstly I don't believe the actions of these judgemental street nutters do any favours for my faith at all, I believe they acheive the exact opposite. Spouting their crap is about the worst advert for our faith you'll find on the streets of London. Secondly they are just damn annoying, especially as they make the assumption that everyone they harras is a none-Christian.

I do wonder why they do it. I can't really believe that this is some Christian calling. I can think of better ways of showing their faith such as helping people in the area in some way. The need to stand on a street and harangue people in the way they do appears as though they have a psychological problem that needs to be treated. I've seen several megaphone preachers in London and none of them have struck me as people who are in a strong mental state.

No doubt Mr Howard will now be preaching how his work for Christ is being damaged by the courts working for Satan, when in fact they're working for folks fed up with being verbally assaulted by the mentally ill. You can read more on the ASBO story right here.