The current atmosphere surrounding questions about what the limits of free speech might be and to whom they should apply has taken center stage in the public debate. The argument rages on college campuses, in legislatures, in courts and campaigns. It’s especially important that Christians recognize they have two moral obligations respecting speech. On the one hand, they are to honor the constitutional guarantee of free speech. On the other they are to observe the greater obligation to to follow godly commandments about the use and limitations of speech.
Constitutional freedom of speech aside, Christians are to respect the dignity of every human being in what they say even as they confront evil without apology. They are to let their yes be yes and their no be no. They are to be ever aware of the power of speech to bless and to curse, to help and to hurt, to speak truth in love. Jesus is the exemplar that Christians are to follow as best as they can. If nothing else, Christians must remember the commandment to bear no false witness against a neighbor (the neighbor being anyone about whom one might talk). St. James offered particularly wise advice when he wrote:
- Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect as though able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us we guide their whole bodies. 4 Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits.
- How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7 For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8 but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. (James 3)
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians reminds Christians that everything they say is to be a part of building up the body of Christ, not only for the church but for the community in which they live.
- Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling. (Ephesians 4)
There are echoes in each of Paul’s letters of Jeremiah’s advice to the exiles in Babylon that they should pray for the welfare of the city to which they have been sent because in its welfare lays their welfare (Jeremiah 29).
The public debate we are now engaged in is, in a sense, a civil war in which words are the weapons. At stake is whether we will remain a democracy of diverse people with diverse views, or are we to become an authoritarian state that claims to be democratic, but only for the few and privileged.
Xenophobic white and Christian nationalism attract followers who are willing to surrender everything liberal democracy stands for in the expectation that a new authoritarian regime will save a way of life they believe is theirs by right. Christians must engaged boldly in the public arena with verifiable facts. They must be firmly grounded in God’s commandments and apostolic wisdom. They must be keenly aware of the difference between words that intentionally humiliate or threaten and words that are observations of verifiable truths. The Christian way doesn’t mean feelings won’t be hurt or umbrage taken: consider how Jesus confronted religious leaders with uncomfortable truths. The Christian way is not without risk. Nevertheless, the way of the cross is the way of life and peace.