Two evangelists have become the unlikely standard bearers for free speech in Australia as they fight a council ban on their preaching.
The brothers’ fire and brimstone sermons had become a regular piece of street theatre on Friday evenings in Adelaide’s CBD.
Brothers Caleb and Samuel Corneloup used the popular shopping precinct of Rundle Mall as a pulpit, preaching their version of the gospel and attracting protests from those opposed to their views.
But what started as a passionate public debate over morality has found its way to the High Court, where it could become a judgement on freedom of speech.
It was retailers who first called for action against the street preachers, telling the Adelaide City Council that the weekly fracas was turning away shoppers.
We have had complaints, many complaints from traders and from passers-by who felt that they had been spoken to in an unreasonable manner,
Adelaide City Council’s Peter Smith said — via redwolf.newsvine.com
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