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Bible Preaching Pentecostal Pastor Cleared of Hate Speech

Bible Preaching Pastor Cleared of Hate Speech

Pastor Ake Green placed the Bible against Sweden's pro-sodomite hate crimes law and the Word of God wins.

Sweden’s highest court today acquitted a Pentecostal pastor accused of hate speech for having denounced homosexuality as “a deep cancerous tumour on all of society,” and that sodomites engage in “bestiality”.

Pastor Ake Green’s Bible based sermons are protected by the freedom of speech and religion law, the Supreme Court in Stockholm said in a 16-page ruling.

“If two men sleep with each other, or if two women do so, it is abnormal, just like paedophilia,” Green said in his testimony.

In 2003, Green told his congregation on the small island of Oland that homosexuality was “a deep cancerous tumours on all of society,” warning that Sweden risked a natural disaster because of leniency toward sodomites. He also said sodomites are more likely than others to rape children and animals.

Pastor Green, 64, delivered fiery anti-sodomite sermons two years ago that triggered a legal battle trying the limits of Sweden's hate crimes legislation against freedom of speech laws. Green told the Supreme Court that his sermons were meant to warn sodomites that their lifestyle will result in an “eternal divorce” from God.

Green was convicted in 2004 under Sweden's hate crimes law, which had amended the previous year to include homosexuals, but acquitted on appeal. Pro-sodomite prosecutors had appealed against the appeals court decision to the Supreme Court for a final ruling in the case.

Green said the Supreme Court ruling was a relief both for him other preachers.

"This means we can continue to speak the way we have, and therefore it feels very good that they have ruled in way that that there should not be any infringement in our way of preaching," he told Swedish public radio.

The case attracted widespread international attention, with religious groups saying a conviction would be a threat to freedom of religion and speech.


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Posted by Editor at November 29, 2005 03:00 PM