Freedom.....

The First amendment of our Bill of Rights states:

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.

So why is freedom of speech so confusing?

From what I understand, our forefathers added this to the Bill of Rights to protect us from the government telling us how to speak. This amendment keeps the government from restricting us from speaking out against the government. You have to remember the context of their times. They were cutting off ties from a government that told them how to speak, what to believe, and what they could do. The Declaration of Independence cut ties with that government, and the Bill of Rights established the rights we have.

People like to think that the First amendment is what makes profanity, cursing, and speech such as slurs okay. We were born with that right. But it doesn’t make it right.

Quite some time ago I drove past a church sign which said this, “Freedom is the right to be wrong, not the right to do wrong.”

Think about that for a moment.

The right to be wrong means we’re going to make mistakes. We will say and do things that inevitably are wrong. But the deliberate choice to do wrong is not freedom. It’s disobedience and rebellion.

Over time Americans have developed the opinion that our freedoms mean we can do or say whatever we want. Back at the time our Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written, we were a different society. Most people held the same social and moral views. Given that, they didn’t have to say the freedom of speech allows us to curse, etc. Since we were a rather God-fearing country back then, I don’t believe many people cursed, or slurred their fellow Americans.

So where is freedom of speech now? The whole Don Imus thing has people talking. His comments, the immediate reaction, and the coming reaction will be felt for many years. Unfortunately, I think the reaction will take us to a place we don’t want to go.

We’re going to ask the government to legislate our speech. A hate speech law will be drafted and go through the House and Senate. It will say that any speech inflaming or speaking against another group will be deemed “Hate” speech, and dealt with in a legal manner. The bill will classify groups by ethnicity, thought, and “sexual orientation”. This classification will protect the groups from “hate speech”.

But I believe the law will be convoluted and vague. It will give way to targeting the religious views our country was founded on. It will limit what the church can say about sinful behavior. We will be asking the government to do the very thing we said we weren’t going to allow anymore. We will be asking the government to legislate what we can and cannot say.

Bottom line is, if we ask the government to fix this we’re in for a world of hurt. You can’t legislate morality and ethics.

As tough as we like to think we are as Americans, we’re really very sensitive and weak. If you look at the Bill of Rights, you will not find anywhere that we have the right “not to be offended”.

As long as we live in this world, we are going to be offended. Do we really want people to be fined when we’re offended? Do we really want to throw people in jail when we’re offended? What about when you offend someone? Because it will happen.

Right now, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton offend me. The way they talk in the Imus situation and in many situations offends me, yet because they are speaking on behalf of an offended basketball team, their words are overlooked.

However, the Rutgers women’s basketball team inspires and encourages me. These young ladies met with the man who offended them, and said they accept his apology and are in the process of forgiving him. The ladies are 18-22 years old and they get it. Why can’t the much older and supposedly wiser Sharpton and Jackson get it?

I don’t know the background of the individual women, but their response is almost biblical. What did Jesus say? You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also" (Mt 5:38-39).

In Romans 12 we read, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"says the Lord. On the contrary:
"If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The ladies go beyond apology and say that Imus shouldn’t have been fired for his regrettable statements. In essence, they turned the other cheek. They didn’t repay evil with evil, but with good.

The Imus situation is the paradox for what this country has become. We push the envelope until someone is truly offended. We probably offended all along the way, but since it wasn’t really a big deal we let it go. And we push the envelope some more. Finally, someone really gets offended and we go to extremes trying to turn it around. I don’t agree with Imus or his views, but the guy made his career off of being controversial. That’s why his employer signed him to a multi million dollar contract. Then they fire him for controversial comments. I’d be confused too.

Why wasn’t their more backlash earlier in his career? How did he get his own radio and TV shows? America loves controversy. That’s how. The same people that pushed Imus to his position are backpedaling really fast now that the money of his advertisers is at stake.

Let me say again, I don’t agree with his views at all. They are inappropriate, insensitive, and inconsiderate. But the hearts and minds of people who think and feel this way won’t be changed by a “hate speech” law. The coming attempt to silence the voices will further plunge us into a Godless society.

The only way to really change the soul and culture of America is to go back to what our forefathers knew… “that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

If we really knew and understood what they said in the Declaration of Independence we wouldn’t be talking about this right now. If we really knew and understood what the Bible said about loving our neighbors, we wouldn’t have this problem.
Don’t change the laws. Change the minds. Change the hearts. Change the souls. Change the world.