Has a motorist really been denied car insurance after expressing his Christian faith? It pays to read the small print before believing the headlines, says James Cary
I don’t read the newspapers. Many people are shocked by that given I’m a writer, blogger, podcaster and a member of the General Synod. They find my refusal to engage in current affairs as rather sad and naïve. Am I burying my head in the sand?
In my defence, I present Exhibit A: a recent story from the Daily Mail. No, not the story about Kate Moss “in a plunging swimsuit” joining her “bikini-clad daughter Lila, 23.” Rather the headline that screamed, “EXCLUSIVE: For heaven’s sake! Christian driver is told car insurance will be voided unless he removes ‘Jesus Loves You’ stickers from his Nissan Pixo.”
At first glance, this is another story about free speech, Christian persecution and how you can’t say anything these days, including proclaiming the love of Jesus Christ.
I am sympathetic to this narrative. I even wrote a whole book called The Sacred Art of Joking (SPCK) about how jokes work, why people were upset by Jerry Springer the Opera and how our laws on free speech are tyrannically incoherent.
Let’s be clear: there are numerous recent cases of Christians being treated poorly. The arrest of Christian preachers in public places is a genuine concern. I applaud Christian groups for advocating for those who are prevented from preaching by the police. But spare a thought for the police, many of whom don’t like what they find themselves having to do. Some don’t really know what they are doing. Some are ignorant of the actual laws of the land which, as I mentioned before, are tyrannically incoherent and unenforceable.
Bobbies on the beat are there to keep the peace. If there is tension and potential for disorder, they want to defuse the situation. That normally means silencing the preacher and carting them away from the scene while people stand around recording it all on phones before posting it on social media. We are very confused about our current situation. Disingenuous headlines in wildly popular newspapers and websites do not help.
If we scratch beneath the surface of this Mail headline – or peel away the Jesus sticker – we will find that this story isn’t quite what it first appears.
The Devil, the Father of Lies, is in the detail.
The headline refers to ‘Jesus Loves You’ stickers. Are you imagining something like a standard-issue Ichthus fish? The classic symbol of the Early Church and now a sticker on a car that tips off other road users that the driver will scrupulously stick to speed limits and refuse to overtake even when you can see for miles?
This isn’t that. Mr Chandra, the proud owner of the Nissan Pixo has spelled out of the words “Jesus loves you’ using coloured tape on one side and “Jesus Loves You V Much” on the other. See above.
Mr Chandra is, of course, free to do this. “I was shocked, surprised and upset when they told me I had to take the stickers off,” he said. “I had tried to do the right thing by telling the insurer about the stickers and sending photographs.”
Did Mr Chandra say this? Anyone who has ever been caught up in any story like this knows full well that any comments by the protagonists are turned into a language I call “Breathless Emotive Journalese”. It is a special dialect invented by PRs and media professionals that that conveys the overall narrative truth of the sentiment, without necessarily bearing any relation to remarks that were actually said out loud.
Here’s the thing: when you tell your insurer about modifications to your car, you should expect the insurer to act accordingly. GoSkippy, the insurer, have clearly judged that these words taped to the side of the vehicle will make it a tempting target for vandals. Such vandals may have no opinions on the love of Christ but have strong views on Nissan Pixos covered in brightly coloured tape.
GoSkippy has some kind of freedom of association, doesn’t it? And that’s good, isn’t it? GoSkippy doesn’t have to insure you if it doesn’t want to, does it? And Mr Chandra could have left the tape on the car and found another insurer, probably at a vastly inflated premium.
You probably think that a baker should not have to make a cake for someone’s wedding if they don’t want to celebrate that particular union. So why should GoSkippy be forced or shamed into insuring Mr Chandra’s car?
This is why I don’t read the papers. They consistently focus on the wrong issue while screeching about another, all the while inviting me to look at pictures of Kate Moss’s bikini-clad 23-year-old daughter. Nope. Not doing it. Sorry. Now where’s my bucket of sand in which to rest my weary head?
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