Bristol preacher Dia Moodley has given a sermon on the city’s streets for the first time since he was arrested last year.
The Baptist pastor was in the city centre’s Broadmead Shopping Centre on Saturday, April 4, to deliver an Easter message.
Pastor Moodley told BristolLive he received many messages of support from Christians and non-Christians who were in favour of free speech.
He only received abuse from one individual and the police did not attend.
Pastor Moodley aged 58, preaches at the Spirit of Life Reformed Baptist Church in Lockleaze, and has been preaching in the city centre for the past eight years..
He was arrested in November 2025 while preaching in Broadmead, and questioned by officers on suspicion of committing a “religiously motivated” public order offence.
Bail conditions, later lifted, prevented him from preaching in the run up to Christmas.
Pastor Moodley has not preached outside of a church since, with advocacy organisation ADF International describing his actions as “self censorship”.
But the pastor, who has not been charged with any offence since his arrest, said he felt compelled, as a Christian, to preach on the day before Easter Sunday.
But he stressed he only wishes to preach about Christianity and compare it to other religions in an “intellectual” and “academic” way and is not targeting anyone.
He today told BristolLive: “Saturday was the first time I was out preaching since the arrest. I preached in my church yesterday.”
Pastor Moodley said he is likely to preach again in the street later this month and said it is only one “group in Bristol” which has given him problems while he is preaching.
He said there is a danger of Christianity being “pushed out of public spaces”.
He said: “Preaching is part of our worship as Christians, our obedience is our worship of God.”
But he said that without freedom of speech “we are being bullied into a corner” and added: “I’m an immigrant, but I have lived in Bristol for 28 years. It’s my home, my city, my nation, this is our home and we need freedom of speech.
“We want to exercise our lawful right to preach the gospel without fear of being arrested.
“What law have we broken? They cannot tell us because we have not broken any law.”
Pastor Moodley was also arrested in 2024 while preaching outside Bristol University but charges were later dropped.
Last year he met US state department officials in the UK amid growing concern in Washington that free speech was under threat in this country.
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