I have been pondering this idea – about whether speech is always free – a bit since the whole Macklemore kerfuffle on the Ed Sheeran tour. The truth is that I am always thinking about free speech – freedom in anything, really – and I go back and forth about whether there are limits or not. Constitutionally, the 1st Amendment says that “”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.” I’ve always thought that this Amendment is really four in one, and it is arguably the thing that all the rest are built on. To limit any part of it is to attempt to dismantle democracy.
The question is important in so many ways, and the truth is that while we have free speech in the halls of government, our speech is often curtailed at work, in our communities of faith, and people’s homes. If you show up at a worship service in my building and start yelling hateful things, you will be asked to stop; if you don’t stop, you will be asked to leave. Profanity of any kind does not fit into a God-centered life. If you go to work and start yelling “Free Palestine!” or “Kill all the Muslims”, you would probably be sent home and ordered to get counseling or sensitivity training. More likely, you would be fired. Ed Sheeran is known for being an entertainer who does not get political, so what Macklemore did went against Sheeran’s approach. If you go to see, say, Bruce Springsteen of Rage Against the Machine, you expect anti-rightwing rhetoric. It doesn’t matter whether Macklemore was right or wrong; he was at work, and that boss doesn’t play that way.
And yet, I am all about freedom of expression. I also think people who spew hate speech and should be canceled from public dialogue. So, there are limits to what we can say and where we can say it. I am free to protest at a No Kings Rally, but if I mention a politician in a derogatory way in a sermon, I have crossed the line. And as much as I am disgusted by just about everything this administration does, the only time I mention a politician in church services is pray for them. I deal with moral issues, not particular politicians. People know where I stand, and sometimes those moral concerns sound political, but I am in good company with that – Jesus did the same. And he was killed because of His “politics” by Rome. It seems that His speech had limits too. But the truth, He said, will set us free.
Prayer – Holy God, help us to seek freedom for all who are oppressed, and guide us in knowing the truth. Amen.
Today’s art is street art by Pablo Hasel that was part of a free-speech protest in Barcelona.