Question of the Week: Free Speech?

The Shadow·
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The recent murderous attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has sparked a debate on free speech. #JeSuisCharlie was quickly followed by #JeNeSuisPasCharlie.

The question this week is: We know that our society has legal limits to free speech. But are there also moral limits to free speech? For example, should Christians be involved in mockery of others?

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11 Responses

  1. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8 (ESVUK)

  2. This is a very interesting and nuanced question. I have to admit that the liberterian in me immediately wanted to say “NO!” Then I re-read the question…

    “But are there also moral limits to free speech? For example, should Christians be involved in mockery of others?”

    This is a very difficult question to answer historically because it seems that every generation of Christendom has had it’s fair share of name callers. Take Martin Luther, for example. He had enough insults that a whole website was generated for it ( http://ergofabulous.org/luther/ ) Here’s just a few…

    “You are full of poisonous refuse and insane foolishness.”

    “You are the prostitute of heretics!”

    “Even if your writings were from an angel from heaven I would take this horrible document, and, after having used it as toilet paper, wipe its nose.”

    Still, while this language was actually pretty common back then, is it something Christians “should” be involved with.

    Again, there’s a fine line. My brother and I used to joke that David insulted Goliath when he said, “You uncircumcised philistine.” John the Baptist called the pharisees a “Brood of Vipers.” Jesus unleashes a series of seeming insults in Matthew 23.

    So this raises the question… is it immoral to “mock others.” Apparently no. Of course, my opposition will say none of these things really mockery, or they will say these things were true and therefore were not unfounded mockery. They’ll create categories of justifiable and unjustifiable mockery and build their case from there.

    All of this leads me to a series of conclusions.

    1. It’s not immoral to mock someone, or their view, if the mockery holds true of the person being mocked.

    2. While it may not be immoral to do, it may also not be wise.

    3. While it may be moral, at times, to mock, it is not always moral. Unfounded mockery is sin and should be avoided.

    4. While mockery may not be immoral all the time, it is also not considered a virtue in Scripture to mock. We are not commanded “mock your heretical neighbor.” Rather, we are called to “love our neighbor.”

    Sometimes love needs to speak truth, even if the truth is clothed in harsh words. If a brother or sister is being stupid, we may feel the need to say “hey stupid… stop it.” We may not be wrong to do so but we may be right to employ other methods. Still, it is true that Biblical characters employed insults at times, and we may find ourselves in good company if the insults are hoisted at one worthy of them.

  4. There is not a place specifically in Scripture that says that words are either good or bad. However, I don’t believe the issue in question is a moral one as much as it is a Biblical one. We are commanded in Scripture to use our words wisely. We are to speak in such a way that our words are seasoned with salt. We are to use words that glorify God, proclaim Jesus, and edify believers. Our words are to be used to share the gospel and point people to Jesus. At the same time, James says that our tongues are set on fire by hell and they speak both life and death. Jesus says, that what comes out of the mouth is directly connected to the heart of the person and what is in the heart is what defiles a person. I agree with Chris Linzey. The Bible shows multiple examples of Paul using sarcasm, harsh words and other types of satire but only used when relating to the church people and not with outsiders. I think that a Christian can make a point and be funny or entertaining at the same time without using language that would make outsiders run from Jesus instead of to Jesus.

  5. Sorry bout the typos, but good points. Also Craig Hawkins, and Greg Koukl are two other great apologist. Honorable mention and customary hat tip to Dr. Jerry Buckner, and Pastor John E. Coleman African American apologists for their good work as well.

  6. No. That’s tantamount to an ad hominem attack. It’s the teachings we are to refute. If there’s point to be made seeing the fallacy that is in a caste system for example, but we not to be Christian versions of Jim Rome or Stephen A. Smith, or even Rush Limbaugh for that matter. Mocking? No. Humor to get a point across maybe. I rarely hear any of the apologists doing that, Ravi, Zacharias, William Lane Craig, or James White. Take you cues from scripture, and maybe learn from an apologist or two. But mocking?

  7. This is a great question. As for me right now, I have put myself on a “time out” I got so sick of my own behavior recently. I have allowed negative influences to dictate my own speech. Seems everyone and their brother feel the need to “call others out” probably more on Twitter than Facebook. I too have been one of those. Scripture says study to be quiet, be slow to speak, and another verse tell us to live peacefully among men, so we may enjoy our freedom. Social media has given birth to a generation who will run their mouth online but wouldn’t dare say a word out of line offline.

  9. 1. The Bible DOES talk about handling grievances privately between individuals. The biblical guidance for such behavior is between people who have a damaged relationship. The goal of going to the “brother” is so that relationship can be repaired and restored (see Matthew 18 as an example).

    2. The Bible DOES give us multiple examples of Jesus (and others) calling out poor behavior in a public setting.

    – Upset with money-changers taking advantage of worshippers, Jesus tears through the temple flipping over tables and whipping men with a cord.
    – Upset with the super-religious, John the Baptist calls the Pharisees and Sadducees “you brood of vipers.”
    – Upset with the super-religious, Jesus calls them “you brood of vipers.”
    – Jesus repeatedly publicly calls out religious leaders as “hypocrites.”
    – Paul has to call out Peter for his poor behavior regarding unfair treatment of Gentiles in the church.

    While not every instance of publicly calling someone out in the Bible is a mirror image of today’s situations, there is still a strong case to be made for publicly addressing and calling out religious leaders. Jesus himself used sarcasm and satire to drive his point home.

    Publicly tearing people down for no reason but to hurt is never right. Using sarcasm or satire to drive home a point about the behavior of religious leaders is well-supported in the Bible.

    1. Thanks for your responses, Chris and Donald. Does this mean it’s okay for a Christian to mock or be sarcastic towards the beliefs of the Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, and others?

      1. I don’t know if I would go there. The biblical examples we have are believers using sarcasm and satire to deal with their own – not with outsiders. And (perhaps this is a fine line) I would think mocking would not be okay even against believers. I feel – I only say this because I haven’t looked it up yet 😉 – that there is difference between mocking and sarcasm.

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