Opposing Censorship

Censorship is dangerous. Suppressing certain portions of information can influence what people believe, and this guides their behavior. Information is power – it enables us to make informed decisions or perform activities; and information is imperative for freedom.

But if certain trends continue, censorship could be a serious threat to Christianity.

CURRENT EVENTS

The 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution forbids the government from enacting a law that prohibits free speech. But censorship can come from other entities. In January 2021, massive technology companies took action to remove or suspend certain individuals or platforms. Below are some examples:

• Twitter banned the President of the United States.

• Facebook and Instagram suspended President Trump’s accounts indefinitely.[1]

• Google and Apple banned from their app stores the Parler app (an alternative to Twitter becoming popular with conservatives).[2]

• Amazon suspended Parler from their web hosting service.[2]

• Google removed Steve Bannon’s popular podcast from YouTube.[3]

According to these companies, the bans are justified due to violations of their policies, such as inciting violence.

Are these companies justified? Or are they taking advantage of recent events to support a political agenda? One way to determine this is to consider whether rules are being applied consistently, or if they are targeting a certain group.

Consider one potential inconsistency: Why would Donald Trump’s tweets alleging fraud in the 2020 election be marked by Twitter as “disputed”, but this was not the case when Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) tweeted the following on May 7, 2017. “Our election was hijacked. There is no question. Congress has a duty to #ProtectOurDemocracy & #FollowTheFacts.”[4]

There are other alleged inconsistencies[5], and perhaps there are legitimate reasons, but I will leave that for you to decide. My desire is not to review and judge each example, but rather to raise serious concerns about censorship in general. Regardless of our political allegiances, we should all be concerned about how far technology companies could go with censorship.

A free society depends on free flow of information. Any potential justification for suppressing information should probably be narrow with an obvious potential for harm. Otherwise, censorship could become subjective, being applied as a weapon by those in power.

Let ‘s review a real tweet citing a standard that could be problematic. It is a tweet by U.S. representative Robin Kelly (D-IL) on January 8, 2021:[6]

“While long overdue, I commend twitter for moving to ban Donald Trump from the platform permanently. Tech companies must take responsibility for hate speech and misinformation flourishing on their watch. This is an important step toward accountability.”

I underlined “hate speech and misinformation” because I disagree with that being an acceptable standard. It is NOT that I agree with hate speech or misinformation, but rather it is far too broad to justify censorship. Why? Because who decides what is hate speech and misinformation? Those in power can choose to censor opposing ideas under the guise of hate speech or misinformation.

The potential for censorship could be an ongoing serious concern. On January 13th, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) announced that Congress is exploring creating an investigative commission to “rein in” the media, so that they do not distribute misinformation or disinformation.[7] But again, who would determine what information fits this criteria or is allowed for distribution? The potential to control what information people have access to, not only violates the U.S. Constitution, it is dangerous to a free society.

RELIGION

Let’s move on to censorship regarding religion. Is Christianity facing challenges? The answer may surprise you.

Open Doors is a Christian organization that supports believers in regions that are hostile to the faith.[8] Which countries are most antagonistic? According to Open Doors, there are a number of countries that are hostile to Christianity and the Bible, which you can review on their website. Who is ranked as the worst? North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, are ranked #1, #2, #3, respectively.[9]

But what about America? Surely there are no calls to censor the Bible in the U.S., right?

Actually there are signs that attempts to ban the Bible may be increasing. The American Library Association (ALA) is the largest and oldest library association in the world.[10] ALA receives reports from libraries, schools and the media regarding attempts to ban certain books.[11] For the decade between 2010-2019, the Bible ranked #52 on attempts for bans and challenges,[12] while the previous decade it was not listed in the top 100.[13] Surprising to me, the Bible ranked #6 on the list in 2015 for challenged books.[14] Reasons for the request to ban each book are provided, and most pertain to explicit, mature or offensive content; but, the reason given for the Bible in 2015 was “religious viewpoint.”[15] That is alarming.

How should Christians respond? Before I answer, let’s read an account in the Bible regarding an attempt to censor. In the book of Acts, Peter and John were seized by Jewish opposition for proclaiming Jesus’s resurrection. They were brought before the Sanhedrin (the supreme court of ancient Israel[16]). Peter defended his sharing the truth about Jesus, but as discussed below, the Sanhedrin attempted to stop them from further sharing this belief. The excerpt below starts when the Sanhedrin removed Peter and John to discuss how to proceed.

So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.” Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:15-20 NIV)

Notice Peter and John’s response to the Jewish request to stop sharing what they believe about God. They refuse. They set an example for us, by declining to cease sharing the Gospel. Christians should seek to follow the laws of society, but we can never stop sharing the truth about God. The eternal destination of souls is at stake. So my first suggestion is no matter what anyone says, we should follow Peter and John’s example in refusing to be silent about God.

Second, Christians should oppose censorship in general, not just specific to religion. This is because there is a slippery slope when censorship begins. Once it starts, a precedent is set and it will invade other areas. It will not be long before it impacts the Christian worldview. We must peacefully make our voices heard (letters, emails, phone calls) and perhaps take a stand with our money and votes against powers that seek to censor information.

In conclusion, the thought of religious censorship or banning the Bible in the U.S. may sound unlikely, but Christians must be on-guard. We must oppose censorship and always share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. With eternity at stake, there is nothing more important than the truth about God – see Importance.

Summary Point:

• Christian must oppose censorship, especially any attempt to suppress the Bible or freedom to share spiritual truth.

[1] https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-01-07/facebook-blocks-trumps-account-indefinitely [2] https://www.usnews.com/news/technology/articles/2021-01-12/explainer-what-is-parler-and-why-has-it-been-pulled-offline [3] https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55598887 [4] https://www.foxnews.com/media/twitter-silent-as-resurfaced-tweet-from-nancy-pelosi-declared-that-2016-election-was-hijacked [5] https://www.foxnews.com/media/twitter-permanently-bans-trumps-but-iranian-ayatollah-louis-farrakhan-chinese-propagandists-still-active [6] https://twitter.com/RepRobinKelly/status/1347729696591671297 [7] https://nypost.com/2021/01/13/aoc-congress-discussing-probe-to-rein-in-media-after-capitol-riot/ [8] https://www.opendoorsusa.org/customerservice/ [9] https://www.opendoorsusa.org/christian-persecution/world-watch-list/ [10] http://www.ala.org/aboutala/ [11] http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks [12] http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade2019 [13] http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/decade2009 [14] http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10 [15] http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10 [16] https://www.biblewise.com/bible_study/characters/the-sanhedrin.php