‘Freedom of Speech Under Attack’
This has been the war cry of late, coming from at least two foreign sources.
The first was in December 2014 when North Korea allegedly hacked the computers
of Sony to prevent the screening of a movie called ‘The Interview,’ about the
fictitious assassination of its leader Kim Jung Un. Cinemas which hosted the
film were threatened with terrorism. The general screening was cancelled due to
this threat and America said that ‘freedom of speech’ was attacked.
The second was the massacre of the
editor and cartoonists of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on January 7, 2015. The murders were done by Islamic
militants in reprisal for the front-cover displaying images of their prophet
Muhammad. Four days later, 1.5 million people and 40 heads of state marched in
Paris to stand up against terrorism
and for freedom of speech.
Any objective observer of the Charlie Hebdo magazine covers will have
to agree that when it came to religious images, be they of Muhammad or the Holy
Trinity, they were deeply offensive and blasphemous. Even one of the founders
of Charlie Hebdo said that the late
editor ‘Charb’ went too far. Having said this, we do not condone violence or
even suggest criminalizing offensive and blasphemous speech - there are other
and better ways to counter these affronts.
Yes, freedom of speech is under threat.
But its greatest enemies are not North Korea or the Kouachi brothers at Charlie
Hebdo nor al Qaeda. The real enemies are within our own western societies. This
threat evolved out of the half-century old western cultural civil war, with the
neo-liberals (‘progressivists’) pitted against the traditional social
conservatives. One of the results of this war has been the proliferation of
legislation: ‘Hate speech’ laws, anti-discrimination laws, and racial harmony
bills. These laws, subjective in nature, with elastic definitions of key terms,
are threatening to choke of free speech. In the Australian State of Victoria,
two Christian pastors from South Asia were on trial for 5 years and $500,000
for allegedly vilifying Islam while teaching Christians about this religion at
a YWAM base. Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act, Section 18C, bans language
that offends, insults, and humiliates people.
The worst threat of all comes in the
form of political correctness (PC). At its core, PC believes language creates
reality. For too long, PC argues, ‘white westernized Christian males’ have
dominated society and subjugated women, non-whites, minorities, and homosexuals
by word and deed. Now, through the language of political correctness, a new,
tolerant, and inclusive reality is being created. Failure to conform to PC can invite a torrent
of abuse and bullying.
It is political correctness that:
• Forces Colorado baker Jack
Phillips to attend ‘sensitivity training’ for refusing to bake a ‘same-sex
wedding cake’ because of his Christian convictions;
• Had Atlanta’s fire chief
Kelvin Cochran fired from his position because he wrote a short piece in his
church’s Bible study group saying that linked ‘uncleanness’ to ‘homosexuality;’
•A British justice of the
peace was disciplined for declaring that adopted children needed a mother and
father, not a gay couple;
• Branded a 7 year old British
schoolboy as ‘racist’ by his teacher because he asked a dark-skinned fellow
student if he was from Africa;
• The new Labor
Government in Victoria promises to remove the exemptions of churches and
Christian organizations in anti-discrimination legislation to force them to
hire non-Christians;
The core of political
correctness is ‘the right not to be offended.’ Classic offendedness meant to
cause someone ‘to stumble, fall, injure
themselves, be pulled down, crushed, or turn away from faith.’ Today, we
have lowered the bar. Today, ‘offendedness’ does not cause any real harm, just
possible hurt feelings and discomfort from words that have been deconstructed
and twisted beyond recognition. Perception, not truth or reality, is king. This
right ‘not’ to be offended is supported by political activists, the media, and
government.
With political
correctness, people are not free to say what they really think, nor are they
allowed to have personal convictions. The intentions of their heart are
irrelevant. Can there be any greater suppression of free speech than this? If
we cannot agree to disagree, then we will lose our precious free speech.
We are reaching a fork in
the road. Free speech and the culture of ‘freedom from being offended’ cannot
co-exist; they are mutually exclusive. One will eventually prevail against the
other. As Christian people, we want to win people to Christ; we do not want to
deliberately hurt or offend anyone. Nevertheless, if we succumb to political
correctness and the right ‘not to be offended,’ then we can kiss good-bye our
free speech and the freedom of conscience that goes with it, which fellow
Christians Jack Philips and Kelvin Cochran have forcefully discovered.
The
Road Ahead is
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