‘Jesus saves’ reads the message marked out in tiles on the roof of a farmhouse in the countryside east of Rotterdam. The Dutch Council of State is unequivocal: The massive big white letters are against the rules because they spoil the view, so the rooftop message has to be removed.
The appeal court was at pains to stress that the ruling was nothing to do with the content of Mr Van Ooijen’s message, but just the way it looked. What’s more, they suggested he’d be welcome to keep the text as long as it was in a less striking colour or smaller letters.
Mr Van Ooijen has no intention of taking the latest decision lying down. He’s now determined to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights. That’s too sad for words…