The extraordinary case, mounted in what is still nominally a Christian church, with an established church in which the head of state serves as Supreme Governor, was brought against armed forces veteran and throat cancer survivor John Dunn, after the police referred him to prosecutors for telling a lesbian couple that it "says in the Bible that homosexuals will not inherit the kingdom of God" in Swindon.
"Whether a statement of Christian belief or not, the court is being asked to consider whether the language has the potential to cause harassment, alarm or distress," the CPS wrote to the courts when pursuing the case, in a document quoted by the Belfast News Letter.
"This document is not the forum for religious debate, but the bible contains other material recognising slavery (Exodus 21:7), the death sentence
...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead...(Exodus 35:2 and Leviticus 24:16) and cannibalism (Deuteronomy 28:27)," the prosecutors asserted — sloppily, as it turns out, as Deuteronomy 28:27 actually makes no reference to cannibalism.
"There are references in the bible which are simply no longer appropriate in modern society and which would be deemed offensive if stated in public," the CPS insisted.