Free Speech Can Be Costly

By: American Decency Staff

 

Speech that does not offend anyone needs no protection.  Keep that in mind as you consider the First Amendment that our Founding Fathers decisively put in place. The framers of our Constitution were wise and recognized the fact that, in a diverse society of human hearts and feelings, offensive and even hateful speech would sometimes emerge. They understood that all speech would need protection; for they knew that the uninhibited expression of ideas and the ability to disagree with and discuss those ideas (as well as the dissenting ones) would be the bedrock of a free, growing, and successful society. An idea that cannot stand up to the scrutiny of an informed and thinking society –  that will not stand to be questioned, debated, or disagreed with – isn’t worth mentioning (although one has every right to mention it—thank you, First Amendment!)

In recent years, the question has become:  Is our First Amendment, guaranteeing the right to free speech, the practical reality that it was meant to be, or has it become nothing more than a theoretical ideal? How have the “progressives” whittled away our right to free speech? What shall we do to keep it in the realm of reality instead of the cloud of theory? What will happen if we do nothing? These things should concern all Americans, but the Christian particularly needs to use this right before it is altogether lost to us.

The “progressives”—more appropriately called “regressives”—have been whittling away at all our rights for too long now. The politicians twist the Constitution to say the opposite of its original intent, the judges overstep and overrule the people, and Presidents have bullied through with their regressive agendas. Think of the LGBT rulings, the healthcare debacle we are trying to work through, and all the “redistribution of wealth” policies that tyrannically harness the honest, hardworking man to a wagon that is pulling a larger portion of society, many of whom choose to not be responsible for themself. Today, let’s limit our scope to the whittling away of free speech.

Had Hillary Clinton won the presidency, she would have worked to implement the UN Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18, just as she had done as Secretary of State when she promoted the Istanbul Process. This United Nations resolution calls for the punishment of anyone who says something which is derogatory against Islam and its Muslim adherents. In effect, it’s a gag order against any criticism of Islam.

Click here and read how “on April 4, 2017, the US Senate passed Senate Resolution 118, ‘Condemning hate crime and any other form of racism, religious or ethnic bias, discrimination, incitement to violence, or animus targeting a minority in the United States’. The resolution was drafted by a Muslim organization, EmgageUSA (formerly EmergeUSA) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).” “In December 2015, House Resolution H.Res. 569 ‘Condemning violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States’ was introduced. That resolution never went any farther, but it was problematic: it favored Muslims over everyone else. The current resolution includes most of the major ethnic and religious minorities in the United States, so it will have a far better chance of passing, as it will more easily fool Representatives into thinking that the contents of the resolution are harmless.” It’s already a crime to commit violent acts against another. Resolutions/laws such as these are a means to cut at our First Amendment, whittling (or gouging) away at your freedoms.

Local governments are getting involved in whittling away your right to free speech as well. Minneapolis has set up a hate speech hotline, encouraging their residents to report suspected hate crimes, including “speech and actions,” according to statements on the city’s website. Michele Bachmann, former congresswoman from Minnesota, states: “By installing Islamic anti-blasphemy hotlines and advertising for informants, Minneapolis is violating the doctrine of separation of church and state,” she added. “What difference is there between the Minneapolis City Council action and United Nations resolution 16/18 advanced by former Secretary Hillary Clinton?”

There are many examples we could cite, reporting how citizens have lost jobs, been sued or harassed, or denied equal privileges due to their statements about the LGBT or Muslim agendas. Yet still, we must make our voices heard.

Dr. Wayne Grudem—wisely reading the signs of the times—warns us what will happen if we refuse to be Biblically responsible with our free speech in his 2010 textbook entitled Politics According To The Bible:

…if pastors and church members say, “I’m going to be silent about the moral and ethical issues that we face as a nation,” that will leave a moral vacuum, and it will not be long until the ultimate adversaries of the Gospel—Satan and his demons—will rush in and influence every decision in a way contrary to Biblical standards. And if that happens, then governments around the world will increasingly use their tremendous power to silence the church. Government will in effect say to Christians and to churches, “Keep your homophobic, misogynist, oppressive, fear-inducing, intolerant, militarist, hate-mongering, Christianity out of our lives, and out of our schools, and off our college campuses, and off our radio and TV stations, and out of any part of government, and out of our quiet suburbs where you are never going to get permission to build any more churches; and keep your hate-mongering Christian religion locked up in the privacy of your own home!

This is what we are beginning to see and it’s only going to get worse if we don’t stand up and speak out. The tyranny of progressivism can only be unyoked and thrown off by the full use of our free speech and standing together upon and behind those freeing words.

 

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