Be careful, little ears, what you hear

A story has been circulating in recent days which claims that a pastor from Burnley, England, was told that the Bible verse he had displayed on the back of his camper van could be considered hate speech. You can read the story, as reported, here.

The story was also taken up by some national newspapers and there have been hundreds of comments on social media expressing fear that the UK has banned the public display of Bible verses and that the country has gone to the dogs.

But we need to be careful in our response to this story. It was shared on the pastor's Youtube channel, which has seen more than double the number of "hits" on this video compared to previous ones. More importantly, when the facts of the incident were checked, Lancashire Police said that they have no record of the incident and commented: “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.”

In other words, having John 3:16 publicly displayed is not considered to be hate speech. Believing the worst about this story without stopping to think is an example of Confirmation Bias: it makes us fearful and suspicious and plays into conspiracy theories rather than using common sense to study the facts.

Let's rejoice in the freedom we have to meet together, talk about our Saviour, and spread the good news in this country. Let's pray for our lawmakers, that they would uphold the causes of righteousness, fairness, compassion, and justice. And let's use the wonderful freedoms we have to make the most of every opportunity given to us to tell others this glorious truth:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)