By Jordan Green, Editor-in-Chief
We live in a society where people of faith and discussions of faith are certainly under attack. But did you ever think it might be illegal to talk about your religious beliefs?
A few nights ago, someone who was recently elected to an office asked me if it is legal for public figures to talk about their faith publicly.
I was shocked. People really don’t know whether it is legal to talk about their faith if they are in office? I could not believe it. But apparently, not everyone fully understands just how amazing the First Amendment really is.
As a newsman, I’m all about the right to free speech and freedom of the press. I’m also a Christian, and so I’m a huge proponent of the right to freedom of religion and assembly. The First Amendment covers all of these vital, God-given rights.
If it’s been a while since you read this powerful piece of text, here it is: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Do you see how broad and wide that law is? When it says “no law,” it means what it says. Of course, that has been diminished through the years, but a pure look at this shows just what the Founding Fathers meant to say: There should be no restrictions on speech, religion, assembly or the press.
Think for a moment about how important all of these rights are to our nation. The fact that we can criticize the government, worship however we choose, freely gather with others and publish the truth is just one of the many things that absolutely makes America the greatest nation in the world. No one else has the freedoms we have to the degree we have them.
I’m no historian, but any high school history class can teach us why the Founders wanted a nation built with these core values. They escaped religious persecution, government-run media, bans on public gatherings and more in Europe, and they knew how the powers-that-be in government could weaponize the law against them. Rather than making laws to protect the government, the Founders of our nation made laws to protect we the people from the government. They were well aware of corruption’s tyrannical grasp.
It’s no coincidence that the very first thing the Founders wanted to enshrine in law was the right to speak, worship, gather and publish freely. That is the basis of a constitutional republic, which is sometimes confused with a democracy. In fact, any form of government that does not robustly protect these rights – even if it allowed people to own guns or have due process – would be dictatorial by its very nature.
Thank God we don’t have that. Yes, the rights to free speech have been eroded somewhat through years of lawmaking, legal rulings and social pressures, but the core tenets of free speech still exist. Yet we have to put them to practice and fight for them.
That couldn’t be truer for people of faith, who have been “canceled” for views that run contrary to what some view as “progressive” politics. The views of Christians and people of other faiths have been maligned and labeled heavily in recent years, both in government and on social media platforms. This is all the more reason why people should become bolder in stating their beliefs, whether others agree or not. As American citizens, we not only have the right, but the duty to defend our rights – especially freedom of speech. And we defend them by using them. This situation is ironic, simple and beautiful.
The question from the newly elected officer heightened just how much social pressure is being put on people of faith. It’s also a call for all of us, whether people of faith or not, to stand up to defend a person’s right to speak, even if we don’t agree with what he or she is saying.
If one person loses the right to speak, everyone does.
My challenge to all of us is to be bolder in speaking out about faith – or at least defending others’ right to do so. If there ever were a time when people needed to hear about faith, it’s right now – not only for the sake of our faith and right to have it, but also for the sake of our nation as a whole.
It’s never illegal to talk about faith. Let’s use our rights to the fullest extent. God bless America.