On May 12th a significant article appeared in the Guardian on free speech. It was significant because it reported on a speech by Canadian novelist and poet Margaret Attwood, best known for her book, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, set in a near-future US, where a patriarchal, totalitarian state known as the Republic of Gilead has overthrown democratic government and is imposing rule by divine law. This is a book that carries an important message for all Christians – to be careful what we wish for. Yet it is one of the books currently most challenged or banned in US schools.
In her acceptance speech for the Freedom to Publish prize at the British Book awards, Margaret Attwood said she couldn’t remember another point in her lifetime “when words themselves have felt under such threat”. “Political and religious polarisation, which appeared to be on the wane for parts of the 20th century, has increased alarmingly in the past decade. The world feels to me more like the 1930s and 40s at present than it has in the intervening 80 years.”, she said.
Talking about her 60 years as a writer, she said, “Those years included the Soviet Union…… They’ve also included the recent spate of censorship and book banning, not only in the oppressive countries around the world, but also in the United States. They have included too the attempt to expel from universities anyone who disagrees with the dogmas of their would-be controllers.”
Read the Guardian article here.
On the same day as the Guardian article, the Church Times reported Pope Leo’s first press conference in which he defended the ‘precious gift of free speech’.
“The suffering of imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech,” said Pope Leo. “The Church recognises in these witnesses — those who report on war at the cost of their lives — the courage of those who defend dignity, justice, and the right of people to be informed, because only informed individuals can make free choices.”
“We do not need loud forceful communication, but rather communication capable of listening and gathering the voices of the weak who have no voice,” he said. “Let us disarm communication of all prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred. Let us free it from aggression — by disarming words, we will help to disarm the world.”
Read about the Pope’s Press Conference here.
Why does this matter? For us Christians the freedom to speak is a vital part of truth and witness, which in turn underpin human dignity and justice. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to earth as the Word of God, freely spoken in a land under occupation by a foreign army, with a dominant religion which viewed its own rules above the needs of individuals. For this freedom to speak truth to power, he was tried and executed.