Tuesday, February 08, 2005

The need for free speech

Free speech is only the result of freedom of conscience and freedom of religion.

These latter freedoms come first. If one does not have convictions -- religious or moral or political -- what is the point to free speech? Pornographer Larry Flynt would insist that showing porn is freedom of speech issue. Commercial companies would consider advertising their products as the ultimate expression of free speech. But is any speech worthy of being protected? To what extent are we to protect freedom over good morals and common sense (or even opposing beliefs)? Is freedom of speech the freedom to say anything that you feel you want to say?

There is actually no true freedom in a speech which is vile, debasing and a source of untamed hatred. Depravity, perversion, or twisting of facts - libel - have little reason to be protected as "free speech." And such speech should not be protected as long as it is irresponisble propaganda aimed and deceiving people and twisting the truth. However, we witness the twisted interpretation of what falls under the categories of such debasing, hateful and morally unjustified speech. Christians are accused unjustly of such type of expression just for preaching the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or for crying out against the sins and the depravity of todays' society.

The origin of free speech has to do with unaccepted and unpopular speech indeed. If all ideas were welcome, then it would be unnecessary to protect the freedom to have convictions and express them.

I find that a man has to be able to choose if they believe in Christ's claims or not. However, the mainstream is against the true representation of the words of Jesus and the Scriptures. True freedom comes from knowing the truth.

Freedom does not necessarily guarantee you that you're on the right path ot the truth. However, being in the Truth is a sure protection of your ultimate freedom.

This is my interpretation of Christ's words who said that to his disciples that if they obey his teachings they would know the truth and the truth would set them free. Such speech is worthy of fighting for, because it sets people free.
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A Welcome Message

This site has some links, news, and comments regarding freedom of conscience, freedom of religion and freedom of speech. These are all inter-related. My concern is especially with the violation of Christian freedom to speak about the collapsed morality of this world and its inability to uphold what is right, true, honorable and godly. This is not an evangelistic site per se, I do not discuss the ultimate goal of one's life - to find salvation and relationship with God in Jesus Christ. It is rather a place to get a perspective on the clash of religious views, and civilizational values in today's world. The Bible is clear in its teaching that followers of Christ will be persecuted for his name's sake (Matthew 5, Jonn 15, 1 Timothy 2), and I am not trying to change that. However, it is worthwile pointing it out, so that people who love the truth can find out more about it, and make up their own minds.

A word on "anonymous" web sites: some withhold their names for safety, some for not wanting to be responsible for their postings, others for not wanting attention drawn to their personality and wanting to avoid the vanity of attention. It's up to you to make your call why my profile in this blog is stripped down to the bare minimum.