April Magazine Letter – Freedom of Speech

Dear Friends,
While the media are rightly drawing our attention to events in Japan and Libya, little or no attention is being given to events of great significance in our own country.
Last week I met with two representatives from the Christian Institute, a nondenominational Christian charity committed to upholding the truths of the Bible, the furtherance and promotion of the Christian religion and the advancement of education in the United Kingdom. I discovered that one of the issues into which they are putting the greatest resources at the moment is that of freedom of speech.
Over the last 20/30 years there has been a significant shift in the way this subject has been handled in the UK, which has had a serious effect on Christians as well as other people with deeply held beliefs.
The current Government is looking again at this subject and the Christian Institute along with others are lobbying hard for change.
I think we have taken it for granted that freedom of speech was one of the proud principles of the UK. It is one of the blessings, and sometimes curses, of living in this land. People are free to say what they believe in public, to engage others in debate and persuade them to change their ways of thinking; not by using force or violence, simply by the power of ideas and the use of words in the rough and tumble of public discourse. True that means freedom to say things we may find offensive or upsetting but that is the cost of freedom (I remember 30 years ago being really upset by some things Enoch Powell said in a speech at my University. He held racist views which I found deeply offensive and was waxing eloquent about them. But I was glad he had the freedom to make that speech. It wasn’t long after that I was lapping up a speech by Tony Benn, aware that others were standing outside protesting! That’s fine, that is freedom to speak) . If we heard things that offended us the response was to get out there in the public sphere and with counter argument show the ugliness and error of those views. We have a great history of public demonstration, debate and protest.
Over the years Christians have seen this privilege as the opportunity to get out there among people, to preach and persuade with passion and power, and to chat freely in the public places without fear of arrest.
This freedom is under threat in our day. It’s not only Christians who have been targeted. Anyone who says anything that goes against the politically correct views of the dominant elite or the supposed views of the “moderate majority” risks being arrested or silenced. Hence Christians have been arrested simply for reading passages out of the Bible which someone in the crowd has found offensive or upsetting.
The reason for this is that Section 5 of the Public Order Act says that it is a criminal offence to use “insulting” words that are likely to “distress” another person. This law was introduced during the 1980s. It was originally presented as a way to help the police deal with public disorder situations such as football matches where fans shout deeply offensive words at each other for no reason other than to offend. The problem is that with the encouragement of certain law officers and politicians it is increasingly being used to seek to silence those whose views do not fit in.
The Institute pressing the Government to use it’s upcoming Freedom Bill to repeal the word insulting from Section 5 of the Public Order Act. This would allow the police to deal with genuine public disorder while not criminalising lawful debate or dissent.
Please pray that the current Government will make this change and turn the tide against freedom of speech. And if you feel able why not write to your MP and ask how they intend voting on this matter (if they are even planning to attend the debate that is!).
This is a current issue. It may not be headline news but for the future of Christian freedom in this country it is important.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
John Edmonds