A church leader in the UK says police warned him that he may face a criminal investigation because a Bible verse displayed on the back of his campervan could be treated as “hate speech.”
The story is yet another chilling example of how far Britain’s crackdown on religious expression has gone.
Pastor Mick Fleming, 59, who runs an independent church and anti-poverty charity in Burnley, said he was approached by a police officer at a gas station on October 27.
The officer warned Fleming that the Scripture on his vehicle might be considered hateful “in the wrong context.”
The verse was John 3:16, one of the most widely known and quoted passages in the Christian faith:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
