I picked up a copy of the Wall Street Journal on a trip recently. I read an interview with Richard Epstein, by Tunku Varadarajan, entitled “The First Amendment Is for Neo-Nazis, Too” (2017). Epstein, an emeritus law professor who calls himself a “classical liberal,” is considered one of the “most influential legal thinkers of modern times” according to an article about him on Wikipedia. Varadarajan quotes Epstein, “[The] fundamental tenet of classical free-speech law is that the rules ought to be ‘viewpoint neutral.’ “ Epstein argues that if we uphold the 1st amendment allowing free speech then it is inconsistent for certain opinions to be censored and punished in the public square or university campus.
Epstein particularly cites “calling out the ‘microaggression’” as a recent complaint causing a lopsided limitation on free speech. A microaggression, as defined by an online dictionary, is an “indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group.” Epstein advocates equality – if we call out or punish microaggressions toward a marginalized group, we have to call them out towards a privileged group as well. However, Epstein views censoring all microaggressions as the death of free speech – nobody will be able to talk. In order for a society to continue to value and practice genuine free speech, he argues that we have to allow people to say offensive things.
In a democratic country it seems essential to the preservation of democracy and individual rights that the government cannot tell its citizens how to think, what to believe, nor limit free speech about their thoughts and beliefs, however offensive these may be.
However, when it comes to the Church, family, and any form of Christian community, I believe God does limit our free speech. I remember a dear friend and fellow Christian mother saying to her children, “Others may; we may not.” In our democratic public society, there may be free speech. However as Christians, we may not speak freely in the same way. I believe this means there should be a difference between how a non-Christian speaks and how a Christian speaks even in the context of public life.
Let me explain what I mean by that. The Bible gives many commands and teachings about how God’s people are to speak. I will briefly mention three guides for speech that I observe from Ephesians 4. Ephesians 4 is concerned with the way God’s people treat one another. The chapter begins with strong teaching about maintaining the unity or oneness of Christ’s body and the Christian faith:
“Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to live worthy of the calling you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”
Scattered throughout that chapter are some verses about our speech:
“14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.”
“25 Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another.”
“29 No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.”
“31 Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.”
I would like to discuss what I perceive from this Bible passage as three limitations to our free speech.
First, we are to speak the truth in love. There are two components of that – truth and the loving manner in which it is spoken. In the Church, we confidently teach truth and refute lies. So within the church, in the case of neo-Nazis, we censor and refute that speech not only because it is offensive but because it is not true that there is a superior race.
In the Church we are not free to assert our opinions in the same way as in a democratic society, because the Church is not a democratic society. We as Christians are required to measure our speech by what is in accordance with the Bible. Is it true and is it loving? We need to speak truth, not lies. In my view, lying also includes ignoring evil, sweeping things under the rug, and avoiding awkward conversations. But as Ruth said in her post about Charlottesville, we need to do so in love (Burke 2017). When we offer our truth in the public sphere, we should take care to do so lovingly. How to speak truth in love is further clarified by the second point.
Secondly, Ephesians 4 makes it clear that the goal of our speech is to build others up. We build others up when we speak truth which protects others from straying away into wrong thinking. Another way for our speech to build others up is to keep our tongues from foul language, bitterness, slander, shouting and malice – hurtful speech. All of our speech must be designed to edify those around us.
Third, our speech is governed or limited by God’s priority of unity in the Body of Christ. I believe that as we apply these three points to our speech within the church and outward in our interaction in the public sphere, we do accept the concept of microaggressions in a way that is NOT viewpoint neutral. There are members of our churches and society who are marginalized and need care. We learn what words and gestures offend others in the Body, particularly, though not exclusively, those who are not of the majority culture. We must always consider whether our words and behavior honor Christ. We govern all of our speech by whether it promotes peace and unity rather than strains the oneness of the Body.
Unity is not to be maintained at the expense of God’s truth, but truth spoken without love may not even be truth. There are offensive and wrong things that no Christian should ever say, whether our democratic society allows them to or not. True freedom for a Christian paradoxically involves choosing to obey Christ and limit our own personal freedom, including free speech.
References:
Burke, Ruth. 2017. “In Response to Charlottsville.” Retrieved August 29, 2017 https://renewingeve.com//index.php/2017/08/18/in-response-to-charlottesville/
Varadarajan, Tunku. 2017. “The First Amendment Is for Neo-Nazis, Too.” The Wall Street Journal, August 26, p. A11