Met police detain a Christian pastor for preaching.

Despite their seeming ambiguity over what constitutes “jihad,” the Metropolitan Police (Met) have been charged with lacking moral clarity in their force. Pastor John Sherwood was taken into custody by Met officers in April 2021 after he made homophobic remarks close to Uxbridge Underground Station.

Clear justification for their actions was provided by the police, who said that one of the public’s members had alerted them to the man’s remarks. Section 5 of the Public Order Act led to Sherwood’s arrest on suspicion of a crime. He was later freed while an investigation was conducted.

Following a protest led by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Hitz ut-Tahrir Britain, the Met also released a statement. The Met said that in their main operations room, public order officers and counterterrorism officers with specialised language skills and subject matter expertise assessed any emerging photos and videos.

Preaching from Genesis 1:27–28, Pastor Sherwood explained that God blessed humans and created them in his image, both male and female. He was taken into custody, had his beliefs questioned, and spent the night in a police station.

The police’s unwillingness to rule out the possibility of making an arrest for someone who has not broken the law is a sign of the de-Christianization of Britain since the 1960s and is indicative of the moral ambiguity within police forces.