Debate: Ban Religious Street Preaching

Should freedom of speech stop when it becomes a public nuisance?

Join the debate at the delightful Queen Street Brewhouse in Colchester for a pleasant pint and a thoughtful debate on the motion This House Would Ban Religious Street Preaching, and weigh up the arguments. You get to ask questions and give your views during the Q&A session and vote on the motion.

PROPOSING THE MOTION:

William Hagerup is the co-founder of the Forum Colchester and the author of The Really Practical Guide to Debating. 

William has himself experience as a street preacher. From his mid-teens, he worked for 14 years in Christian ministry, 5 of them in Europe’s biggest Pentecostal church in London. He left the church and is now an atheist and secularist.

William studied political and ethical philosophy at the University of Trondheim, and 18th-century British society at King’s College London. He is an active debater and the author of the semi-autobiographical book In Good Faith as well as the debate manual mentioned above.

William will be Proposing the motion “THW Ban Religious Street Preaching” at the Forum Colchester debate at the Queen Street Brewhouse on Sunday 25th, 4–6pm.

OPPOSING THE MOTION:

Manick Govinda is the author of The Freedom to Blaspheme, which explores the challenges of free speech in a multicultural society.

He was a member of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Strategy Group between 2008 and 2016 and worked with the civil liberties campaign group The Manifesto Club, where he successfully changed visa rules for artists visiting the UK.

He recently curated Miriam Elia’s major solo exhibition The New Normal in Warsaw, Poland (2023), a photographic exhibition of Hastings Photographers (2024), Witness, an exhibition of three Jewish artists, co-curated with artist Mina Kupfermann at JW3, London (2025), and Israeli-British artist Maya Amrami’s first UK solo show, Monsters, at the Not for Sale Gallery, Hackney Wick, London (2025).

Manick is a regular contributor at The Battle of Ideas in Westminster, London, and he will be opposing the motion.

Join us and have YOUR say during Floor Contributions.