So, right about now, all your friends on the right are probably considering dusting off the old keyboard and signing up for a Twitter account – if they haven’t got one already. Their purpose is simple: they want to encourage Elon Musk and show a sign of solidarity with him. Getting a Twitter account is a way to say thanks to a man they view as falling anywhere between “Hero of the Republic” and “a guy who puts his money where his mouth is”.
But those who haven’t redpilled are less pleased with Mr. Musk’s recent acquisition. The consternation and frustration and outright threat that is felt by some at the idea of a more-free version of a free-speech platform is indicative of the problem that we as a society face. The European Union basically threatened to ban Twitter if Musk didn’t ban “hate-speech”. Time will tell whether the Tesla tycoon bends to the pressure or stands firm against authoritarian restrictions on “free-speech”.
Now, this, I must say, is a fascinating issue from a theological and pastoral perspective. Theologically, there is no such thing as “free-speech”. Speech is either good or evil because the words said are either: true or lies; meant to create life and flourishing, or meant to destroy; spoken to praise, honor, magnify, and glorify God through Jesus Christ His Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit – or to blaspheme. Speech (or at least coherent, meaningful, and consequential speech) is a moral act. There’s much more that could be said about this, but for sake of time, accept my premise that speech is a moral act. If you need a prooftext: God says that people will have to answer for every word in Matt. 12:36!
So, as a pastor-theologian, I’m not FOR free-speech in the same way that I’m FOR righteousness, worship, love, self-sacrifice, wisdom, industry, generosity, kindness, frugality, cleanliness, marriage and big families with lotsa babies, or anything else that tends to the glory of God and human flourishing. I’m FOR free-speech, not because I think it’s an unqualified good, but because I think that in this world, I’d rather have people free to say ugly things than to have the government decide what’s ugly.
Now, I don’t want people to say ugly things. And there are legitimate limits that the government can impose that Christians need not feel threatened by. For instance: threatening and menacing language can, should, and must be policed; slander and libel, are and should be criminal; treacherous and seditious language is and should be punishably by law.
And nobody is saying otherwise (or at least no reasonable person). The problem is that authoritarians in government, big-tech, the media, and all the “influencers” want there to be laws against “hate-speech”. And THEOLOGICALLY I have no biblical basis to say that hateful, ugly, and harmful things MUST be legal. However, theology also teaches wisdom and prudence. Part of wisdom and prudence is determining the lesser of two evils. Hate-speech laws are not bad, theoretically, in themselves, from a biblical perspective. The problem is that they are quite handy additions to the tyrants toolkit.
Christians need to recognize that “free-speech” is not so much “biblical” as it is “prudential” and that this is a conversation that is going to require a thoughtful and serious approach. But for me, for now, I see hate-speech Laws as a greater threat than hate-speech.