A church leader was apparently warned by a police officer that a Bible verse displayed on the back of his campervan could be considered "hate speech" in certain contexts.
Mick Fleming, 59, said he was approached by a police officer while he was at a petrol station on 27 October.
In a video update, Fleming said the officer advised him that the Scripture “could be seen as hate speech in the wrong context”. If someone complained, police would investigate it and he could "end up in trouble".
The message on his van was the Bible verse John 3:16, which reads: “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.”
Describing the encounter, Fleming said the officer "was a really nice guy, wasn’t nasty or anything, and he said ‘a bit of advice – the writing could be seen as hate speech in the wrong context".
He went on, "I am just giving you a heads up’. He wasn’t there to arrest me: it was just advisory."
Fleming is a church pastor whose work to alleviate poverty has been widely covered in the media. He admitted he was surprised by the word of warning.
In his video posted to YouTube, he said, “I just thought ‘wow’ – I just wondered what people thought … where have we moved to as a country where a bit of Christian scripture on the back of a van can be seen as hateful or spiteful?
“Maybe society is moving to a place where they don’t want faith-based people sat around a table in discussion with them."
He later said that he has no plans to remove the verse as he sees it as "an integral message of how real change is possible".
Many commenters on his video expressed their support, describing the verse as “a message of love.”
Lancashire Police said it had no record of the encounter.
“We would not consider this to be hate speech and would ask the person in question to speak to us directly so that we could look into the matter,” a spokesperson said.
Displaying religious texts publicly is generally lawful in the UK under freedom of expression. However, speech that is considered threatening or intended to stir up hatred against people based on protected characteristics such as religion or sexual orientation can be subject to criminal investigation under the Public Order Act 1986 and related legislation.
Fleming, a former drug dealer who says his Christian faith led him to charity work, has been featured on BBC’s Songs of Praise and has received recognition from the Prince of Wales for his outreach work.
