To Exercise Free Speech, But Not To Speak Freely

There's a passage in Ephesians 4 that deals with not only the words we speak, but the attitudes of our hearts that drive them:
29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.

James warns us about the power of the tongue and the potential for destruction contained within it. This same theme is found in these verses in Ephesians.  We should be characterized by the life-giving words we speak - telling the truth in order to build another person up.  Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, and if we are harboring unkind, bitter, and destructive thoughts and thought patterns, that will be reflected in our words.  We have to allow the Holy Spirit to heal our hearts, renew our minds, and give us the capacity to speak and act with conviction and compassion.

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In Proverbs 13, we can read words that paint a picture of our demeanor, as we seek to reflect Christ in a culture in which we find people who are hostile toward Him or ignorant of Him.  We're reminded that even though we may have a right to free speech, that doesn't mean we have to always speak freely:
2 A man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth, But the soul of the unfaithful feeds on violence.
3 He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.
4 The soul of a lazy man desires, and has nothing; But the soul of the diligent shall be made rich.

There's been a bit of chatter recently about the topic of free speech on college campuses.  None other than the President, in a speech in Iowa recently, who, according to the website for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE:

...criticized recent trends on campus, such as the rise in disinvitations of controversial speakers and the demand for “trigger warnings” on course materials. The trends have dominated headlines since last year as students increasingly come to expect protection from words and ideas they don’t like.

“I’ve heard of some college campuses where they don’t want to have a guest speaker who is too conservative or they don’t want to read a book if it has language that is offensive to African Americans or somehow sends a demeaning signal toward women,” said President Obama. “I’ve got to tell you, I don’t agree with that, either. I don’t agree that you, when you become students at colleges, have to be coddled and protected from different points of view.”

Surprised by his assessment?  I certainly am, especially in light of the Administration's instances of attempting to force people to accept ideas that violate their deeply held religious beliefs, such as gay marriage or the attempt to force charities to provide so-called health services they find objectionable.
But, he has raised a valid topic.
In a piece on The Atlantic website, FIRE President and CEO Greg Lukianoff and author Jonathan Haidt highlight two terms which they say, "...have risen quickly from obscurity into common campus parlance. Microaggressions are small actions or word choices that seem on their face to have no malicious intent but that are thought of as a kind of violence nonetheless...Trigger warnings are alerts that professors are expected to issue if something in a course might cause a strong emotional response."

University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds makes this observation in a USA Today piece:

Many college students seem to believe that they have the right not to hear things they disagree with, and in some schools — the University of California, for example — the administration seems to agree with them, treating opinions that students find disagreeable as some sort of assault.

Ah, yes, the University of California - the state university system's Board of Regents was considering a proposed speech code after protests from free speech groups who called it a form of censorship, according to Fox News, which reported that about two dozen people gave input to the board of regents at a recent meeting at UC Irvine about the proposed "Statement of Principles Against Intolerance," which called for the university's 10 campuses to be "free from acts and expressions of intolerance."  The effort to implement the speech code was turned back.

David French, formerly of the Alliance Defending Freedom, writes in National Review:

Fully aware of the law, universities try subtle means of enforcing speech codes while insulating themselves from judicial review. Such codes will often impose explicit, unconstitutional speech restrictions at the same time that they claim these restrictions are not intended to violate the First Amendment. The University of California’s proposed policy is no exception. It claims (hilariously) that it is not intended to be used as a basis for discipline or to suppress “educational, political, artistic, or literary expression of students in classrooms and public forums that is protected by academic freedom or free speech principles.” Yet the entire policy suppresses expression protected by free-speech principles.

We have become a culture where tolerance is king and there is a smaller margin for disagreement on various views.  Polarization has replaced respectful, public discourse.  And, I believe it's incumbent on believers in Christ to show a better way.

First of all, we realize that if we are advocating freedom of speech and religion for ourselves, that in accordance with the Constitution, that we should also be supportive of allowing people with whom we disagree to express their views in the public square.   And, when those views are expressed, we have to make sure that we remain firm in our convictions, but not defensive in our communication.

I think overall that many in our society have developed a rather thin skin - we are prone to argument rather than deliberation.  If we are trying to win an argument, we may be short-circuiting our ability to win someone to Christ.   The Bible instructs us to speak the truth, but to do that in love.

And, we have to put aside the potential for hurt feelings and be grounded in our identity in Christ.  No one's words or actions can take that away.  He is the One who will strengthen us.  If we are easily offended, then we lose our ability to engage someone in a productive discussion - and we have to develop the skill of relating God's principles and telling His story in our lives, not in a bombastic way, but with humility and thankfulness for who He is and what He has done.