Mick Fleming pastors in Burnley, England. He recently shared on YouTube of how local police warned that a Bible verse on the back of his motor home could be considered hate speech, the Christian Post reports.

Fleming, a former drug dealer, pastors Church on the Street Ministries that ministers to addicts and street people.

He lives in an RV after selling most of his earthly possessions. The vehicle also serves as his ministry base.

He put up a sign covering the back of his mobile home with arguably the Bible’s most famous verse printed on it:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16 NASV)

Fleming was filling up at a gas station, when a police officer approached him with a friendly warning.

“He just tapped me on the shoulder,” Fleming said in an interview with Premier Christian News. “He said, ‘Don’t be alarmed, but I just wanted to just mention the writing on the on the back of your van. You know, it could be seen as hate speech.”

Fleming was shocked by the suggestion. He asked how the verse could be “hate speech“, since it starts off with “God so loved the world.”

Though no one had complained, the officer insisted that some may consider it that way.

Fleming stated that in recent years there has been efforts to censor Christianity in the country.

“Maybe society is moving to a place where they don’t want faith-based people sat around a table in discussion with them,” Fleming said in an interview with The Telegraph.

But he added that this incident has resulted in John 3:16, being published in media outlets across the country and around the world.

There has been significant push back on public displays of the Christian faith in the UK in recent years.

A poll conducted in 2022 by Pearn Kandola found that 82% of
British Christians do not wear religious jewelry to work. This is due to fears that they will be harassed for displaying their faith publicly.

In 2024, a volunteer police officer with London’s Metropolitan police constabulary told a Christian busker performing on a street corner that Christian music was not permitted outside churches. Harmonie London, 20, regularly performs on Oxford street that allows public performances. When she challenged the officer’s statement, the special constable apparently stuck her tongue out at Harmonie.

These incidents reflects a growing trend to censor public displays of the Christian faith in the UK.

Fleming added that despite the friendly warning, he has no intention of removing the sign.