Free Speech Theology

The recent demonstrations staged at town hall meetings on health care reform have received a lot of press, lately. I hope that one result will be a review of the nature and importance of free speech as a moral value. The time has come when we need to speak freely about the ethics of free speech. There are simply too many abuses happening just now, and the consequences for our society, and for our understanding of ourselves as human beings, are huge.

Free speech, as it turns out, is not only about civics but also theology. The Bible is full of accounts describing the importance of all voices being heard. A few examples include:

1. the Exodus account depicting God’s response to the cries of the Israelites in bondage to Egypt,
2. the Wisdom Literature and Prophets accounts depicting the response of God through prophets and (eventually) foreign kings to the cries of a defeated Israel in exile,
3. the Gospel description of Christ extending God’s grace to the outcast and foreigner, including the blessing of Bartimaeus, of a Canaanite woman and of others, who refused to be silenced.

We are in a time, however, where people are misappropriating the concepts behind free speech to actually silence other voices. Contrast, for instance, the difference between the Christian-led civil disobedience of America’s civil rights movement with last week’s civil disobedience at town hall meetings on health care reform. The 1960s civil rights effort invoked the rights of free speech to insist that long-silenced voices (the voices of African Americans) be heard. Last week’s civil disobedience at public gatherings was invoked to silence open and frank discussion on a burning issue of our day: health care reform. For Christians, this represents a serious ethical abuse of free speech, because it turns the theological basis of free speech (i.e., hearing all voices that we might respond with justice) on its head.

Of course, free speech is not just about civil disobedience. Talk radio and a number of other venues could use this discussion, too. The point is for us to value the ability to listen to all voices with respect, with the goal of then discerning ways of living into justice and right relationships.

With this in mind, Christians must insist that respectful free speech is an important Christian value. After all, we Presbyterians understand the church to be the provisional demonstration of what God intends for all humanity (PCUSA Book of Order G-3.0200). As with all values, we must acknowledge that we are sinful and fail to achieve perfection in pursuing it even within the church. But we don’t give up, and neither should our civic society. The pursuit of respectful listening and respectful talking is important, because God’s justice is important.