The Netherlands: "Jesus is not allowed to save you in the County of Giesenlande, Province of South Holland"

A local Dutch newspaper Almere Vandaag, recently reported  that a  Dutch farmer, Joop van Ooijen, who lives in the County of Giesenlande, Province of South Holland and owns a farm and home next to the A15 highway was in trouble with his local government council, because he had painted in white letters the text - Jesus Saves on his roof.

This Christian slogan apparently was not to the liking of the Giesenlande County Council, who fined Joop van Ooijen euro 15.000 and summoned him to remove the text based on what they said were local zoning regulations and make his farm more "compatible (blend in) with the surrounding environment".  Joop van Ooijen then changed the color of the text from white into red and orange. 

 

Following the change of color of the text  the Giesenlande County Council, at the instigation of councilman Jan de Groot of the council VVD  fraction (the party which won the June 2010 national Dutch elections) wrote Joop van Ooijen that the change of color of the text was still not acceptable and threatened him with further fines and prosecution. 

These kinds of actions by any Government or their local representatives, have very little to do with the "compatibility of the surrounding environment", but all about the freedom of expression and religion. This is not acceptable, especially not in the Netherlands or the EU, where secularism, freedom of expression and the freedom of religion is a basic right for every citizen. Regardless of what Mr. Wilders, the anti-Islam - anti-immigration Dutch politician says. The fact is that no individual is more equal than the another. ...And what makes this local government interference even more bizarre, is that the text in question was painted on a private property. Joop van Ooijen could just as well have painted the text "Long live the Dutch soccer team" or "My dog is the best dog in the world" on his roof. That is his right..

If you are concerned about what appears to be an erosion around the globe of human rights, including freedom of expression and freedom of religion, you can show your concern by taking action wherever you are and where it counts. In this particular case e-mail the County of Giesenlande at the following address: info@giessenlanden.nl :attention Mr. Jan de Groot - councilman with a copy to  the Province of South Holland - attn: Danielle Bolton at: secrveldhuijzen@pzh.nl and voice your concern. 

EU-Digest