Let’s be honest: everyone says they want freedom of speech.
But what they really means is they want freedom of speech for themselves. Everybody else… not so much.
If you say you’re for freedom of speech and then wish to forcibly silence hate speech- you’re a hypocrite. I’m not saying hate speech is good or okay, mind you. But the two ideas of letting people say what they want and controlling what they say are incompatible. They’re diametrically opposed. You can’t have both.
As believers of Holy Scripture, we have the responsibility to fight falsehoods, hate, prejudice, and everything that is evil. This is non-negotiable. Light drives away darkness, and we are supposed to be the light of the world.
The mistake that most people make is that they think they can fight hate with censorship. Here’s a bit of advice:
You can’t fight darkness with darkness.
If someone lies, you don’t expose them by telling more lies. You don’t solve murder by killing someone (sorry, all you capital punishment folks… I believe nobody is beyond redemption when God is involved). You can’t counter hate speech by eliminating speech all together.
Censorship is wrong. Censorship is the lazy way out. If somebody says something that’s inflammatory, hateful, or wrong, you need to counter it with truth, not demand that they shut up.
That’s what Jesus did: he spoke truth when people spewed lies and hate. He never demanded that his detractors shut up, even when it was obvious they were lying about him. He simply pointed out the truth, and said “those with ears, let them hear.”
There will always be people you and I disagree with. We live in a broken world, filled with sickness, depravity, and hate. But you don’t fight hatred with more hatred. As much as I don’t like to admit it, even the most vile of sinners is, at their core, a wounded, hurt person. We all are. We all need healing. And the only way to heal a sickness is with proper medicine: the truth.
If speaking truth makes you uncomfortable, that’s probably because you’re not familiar enough with it to properly defend it.
Make a resolution today to learn how to defend the truth. Fight darkness with light. Don’t give in to the temptation to shut people up because you can’t handle what they’re saying. Read Scripture, study it, practice it, and learn how to defend it. It is the only way to properly drive out the darkness.
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” – 2 Timothy 2:15