A couple of days ago, conservative Canadian journalist Lauren Southern was detained and ultimately banned from the country when attempting to travel into the UK. The reason? For being a "Christian extremist."
Southern was traveling to the UK, as she has many times before, to meet with friends and hopefully conduct some interviews. But as border security examined her passport, she was pulled aside and questioned. Eventually, she was turned over to local authorities, who then informed her she was being detained under the Terrorism Act (basically the UK's version of the Patriot Act). Her belongings were then confiscated and she was interrogated for about three hours as they attempted to understand the extent of her religious convictions.
"How religious are you?"
"Would you consider yourself a Christian extremist?"
"How do you feel about running cars or trucks into other people, particularly Muslims?"
In the end, she was let go, but not before being banned from entering the country.
Now, there's obviously a certain amount of irony here. Britain does have a terrorism problem. Britain does have a problem with religious extremism. Britain does have a problem with people of a particular faith running over others with cars and trucks. But those problems have nothing to do with Christians.
But I'm not here to tread all over Islam. While I obviously disagree with the religion and do think it harmful, I don't believe most who practice it are either terrorists or potential terrorists.
What I am concerned about is free speech.
Southern, like many others, is facing heat for her criticism of a particular ideology. And that is pretty ludicrous.
It's becoming difficult to have meaningful conversations about anything because feelings are valued above facts. It's not enough that you don't offend the person you are talking to; you can't say anything that might possibly offend somebody somewhere.
And this is particularly problematic for Christians. After all, the message we preach is one of offense.
The gospel is a message of hope. We believe that God so loved the world that He gave His own son, who willingly came to earth and died in our place to save us.
But that is also a message of offense.
Why did Jesus die? Because we deserve death. What is he saving us from? The just wrath of God. We need Christ to save us because we cannot save ourselves. And in a culture whose chief dogma is "To thyself be true," that's not exactly a politically correct.
When the Founding Fathers were working out the core tenants of our country, they began here:
"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." - First Amendment to the United States Constitution
This, experts have said, can be summed up as "freedom of thought." A society cannot thrive if its people cannot think. They must be free to believe, free to express, and free to discuss ideas from diverse (and sometimes conflicting) perspectives. Bad ideas die, good ideas rise, and we're all better off for it.
But this freedom is not just a positive force for the advancement of society. It's also a positive force for the advancement of the good news of Jesus. Unlike some religions, which gain adherents through coercion or manipulation, Christianity grows best in the free marketplace of ideas. When people are free to think, free to speak, and free to come up with their own conclusions, the gospel of Jesus Christ can hold its own.
Not only should we care about freedom of speech because we care about our society, we should care about freedom of speech because we care about the eternal destination of the people in our society.
