It was just a regular prayer meeting and then someone suggested that we should give thanks to God for Kristie Higgs’ legal victory, and it got me thinking.

Higgs is the Christian school worker who was sacked after sharing posts about LGBT+ relationships teaching in school. But following a six-year legal battle the Court of Appeal reversed a ruling that defended her dismissal. One commentator has since claimed that this confirms the Equality Act protects traditional Christian beliefs on social issues.

Interestingly, just a few days later I read a news report that referred to a father who was ‘overwhelmingly thankful’ to Vice President Vance for his widely publicised comments on free speech The dad in question, Adam Smith-Connor was convicted last October for breaching an abortion clinic buffer zone in Bournemouth. And his crime? He was praying silently! It’s hard to believe it happened in Britain, but Smith-Connor was given a two-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay £9,000.

In a ‘blistering’ speech Vance told delegates at this year’s Munich Security Conference that the threat he was worried about doesn’t come from any external actor such as Russia or China. His concern arises from the fact that free speech seems to be on the retreat in Britain and Europe. Not surprisingly his comments didn’t go down very well with one Ukrainian MP suggesting it was a “total humiliation of all European leaders”.

Now it could be argued that it is a little ironic that Mr Vance could complain about the pressures on free speech given the fact that no one tried to stop him voicing his controversial opinions! But I would go further and question his wisdom given the turmoil they caused in a very volatile international situation.

I wonder if his timing was inappropriate too given the context. The leaders who had gathered in Munich were supposed to be focusing on two key issues: how to end the war in Ukraine without capitulating to Russia and how Europe needed to boost its spending on defence.

Having said this, I would be the first to defend the right to free speech. It is a God given dignity - so much so that we can tell Him anything we are thinking and feeling! There are times when we might need to say unpopular things then, which is why we need to challenge anything that threatens our right to share the things we believe and especially to pray here in the UK.

We must take care when voicing our opinions and do all we can to maintain healthy safeguards such as a vibrant democracy and an independent judicial system. We need to keep a tight rein on our tongues too. This is why it would be helpful if we all heeded the advice I found on a local Street Pastor’s Facebook page: Before you speak THINK. Is it ‘True? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary and Kind?’