In an age of social media and political sensitivities, core principles of freedom of speech and religion are increasingly under threat. Where could this lead?
Today’s world faces severe challenges to the cornerstones of democratic and Christian societies—freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Western democracies are imposing an avalanche of legislation and restrictive measures to wrestle with hate speech, disinformation, extremism and public disturbances.
The alarming rise of movements against free speech and the rapid loss of its protection in the West portend a move into one of the most dangerous and intolerant periods in modern history.
A war on free speech
A December 2023 report by the Future of Free Speech, an independent think tank, highlighted worrisome free speech trends in 22 open democracies across the globe from 2015 to 2022. This period encompassed momentous global events, ranging from devastating terrorist attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic to the war in Ukraine, massive protest movements and political campaigns infused with disinformation.
The study found that all but one year witnessed a dramatic surge in laws constricting free speech, with national security, national cohesion and public safety being the most cited reasons.
Endangered freedoms
A strong commitment to free speech and, by extension, religious freedom was once considered a bedrock value of democratic societies.
Now law, culture and technology are dangerously coalescing to establish new standards around several hot-button issues, especially gender, sex, marriage and the value of human beings at the beginning and end of life. Dissenters from the consensus will increasingly bump up against government coercion and cultural intimidation.
Louis Brandeis, a U.S. Supreme Court justice from 1916 to 1939, referred to the First Amendment right to freedom of speech as “the indispensable right.”
While polling shows that most Americans are concerned about free speech heading in the wrong direction, a survey from the Pew Research Center finds that more than half of U.S. adults have now tilted to favoring restrictions on information online as opposed to prioritizing freedom.
As the concept of harm from speech has been broadened, there is a growing intolerance from many who want to muzzle those who disagree with them on certain controversial topics.
Free speech gagged in Canada
In Canada, free speech is increasingly viewed as too dangerous to be allowed.
Freedom of religious expression has been under attack for years by a steady criminalization of speech, initiated under the guise of promoting equality and combatting hate speech.
Under the proposed Online Harms Act, or Bill C-63, everyday Canadians would have their social media and streaming accounts shut down or shadow banned for creating content that has been rejected by a government-controlled algorithm.
With the stated aim of safeguarding the masses from hate speech, the police would have the authority to search the Internet for hate speech violations and arrest offenders.
Christianity in the crosshairs
Other proposed legislation may be used to eliminate using belief in a religious text as a defense.
If the religious exemption is removed, religious groups will be increasingly marginalized and silenced. Canadian parents, faith leaders and citizens who provide faith-based guidance or counseling—including sermons or literature using the Bible—that espouse traditional views of marriage and sexuality or critique another religion could be deemed by Canadian courts as violating hate speech laws.
Extremism in the United Kingdom
The shocking radicalism seen on the streets of London following the Oct. 7 terror attacks in Israel has further fueled a fight against extremism and hate crimes.
“Our democracy and our values of inclusivity and tolerance are under challenge from extremist groups, which are radicalizing our young people and driving greater polarization,” said Michael Gove, a senior cabinet minister at the time who headed the department that produced a new definition of extremism. The new definition includes “intolerance.” In order “to protect democratic values,” groups can be blacklisted for abusive or insulting words.
Such a broad definition can be used against traditional biblical values as society redefines what is considered intolerant.
Protections and punishments
Laws in the U.K. were already moving in this direction with the Online Safety Act 2023, which set out to handle “legal but harmful” content on the Internet.
The wide-ranging law laudably aims to protect people, particularly children, from health care or political disinformation on the Internet, but also creates a new criminal offense of “false communications.” The big social media platforms—Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok—will now be tasked to define and eliminate what is “legal but harmful,” or face fines of up to 10 percent of their annual revenue.
Redefining extremism
Broadening the definition of extremism and banning speech based not only on content but on the reaction of others illustrate a relentless anti-Christian animus. The risk of unfashionable views—like the biblical teachings on sexual ethics—being censored for causing “psychological harm” is chilling.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who is the head of the Church of England and a member of the House of Lords, warned that the new extremism definition “not only inadvertently threatens freedom of speech, but also the right to worship and peaceful protest—things that have been hard won and form the fabric of a civilised society.”
Free speech unease and disinformation fears
English-speaking countries have long traditions of free speech, but in parts of Europe, that tradition is far shorter. With religious and secular cultures already colliding, the COVID-19 epidemic lockdowns and then multiple elections with disinformation concerns, European leaders have faced growing threats to and from free speech.
Powerful laws against hatred, offense and insults have been expanding markedly throughout the EU. Bans on pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been drawn up in Germany and France because of hate speech and public order concerns.
A proposed new hate speech law targeting “toxic ideologies” in Ireland could make a person liable for a hate crime, even if unintentional, against any person or group with protected characteristics.
Denmark has reintroduced the crime of blasphemy. And it has amended its laws to restrict the entry of selected religious preachers whose teachings undermine “Danish values.”
Big tech becomes Big Brother
With the 2024 European parliamentary elections, EU officials grew alarmed by what they referred to as “tsunami levels” of disinformation. Foreign interference from Russian and Chinese propaganda operations brought about a flood of misinformation and disinformation. The resulting false narratives and conspiracy theories have been eroding electoral trust.
Already frightened by the rise of the far right across the continent, EU governments have become much more involved in policing speech.
The newest and most widespread law is the European Union’s groundbreaking Digital Services Act (DSA) that went into effect last year. The enactment of the DSA marked a significant shift in the landscape of free speech on the continent.
The law is a sweeping social media regulation that obligates social media companies—under threat of crippling fines—to act as privatized censors, shutting down and deleting anything the EU defines as terrorist content, disinformation or hate speech.
Good intentions, but . . .
Even as Europe has begun to wield this controversial new tech law aimed at creating a safer digital space, there will undoubtedly be unintended consequences and profound implications for freedom of expression, including religious freedom of speech.
Politicians are justifying these across-the-board laws as a way for government officials to hold fair elections and catch online child abusers. However, these same laws might also provide unchecked power to advance progressive projects or target ordinary citizens who embrace biblically based but unpopular views.
It is still unclear exactly who will be the ultimate authority to determine what constitutes the exceptionally broad and ambiguous concepts of misinformation, disinformation, hate speech and other online harms.
While removing illegal content sounds innocent enough, what constitutes “illegal” or “harmful” content could ultimately be determined by constantly shifting cultural tides, coercive governments or even artificial intelligence algorithms.
Shifting views on freedom
Nearly 80 percent of U.S. adults say religion’s role in American life is shrinking, according to the Pew Research Center, so it is not surprising that faith is more and more being squeezed out of the public square. The moral decline of the West means that our culture increasingly scoops up new and transient virtues, accepting government coercion to hollow out or replace the moral foundations, freedoms and objective truths the Bible provides. Freedom of speech is just one of the time-honored values that ends up discarded.
Freedom of religion is inextricably linked to freedom of speech, but denying these liberties in the name of tolerance is increasingly popular. As the religious character of the West continues to grow more secular, so do our assumptions about religious freedom.
Premier Christianity reported on a U.K. survey that found a quarter of young people (18-34 years old) “would support banning the Bible if they believed it contained ‘hate speech.’”
The laws that ensured freedom of speech and religion in the English-speaking world have allowed the Church of God to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God to nations around the world (Matthew 28:19-20). But the objective truths found in the Word of God are increasingly perceived as unwelcome because they clash with many contemporary beliefs and movements.
A different kind of famine
End-time Bible prophecies reveal a chilling future where, as biblical illiteracy surges and the Israelite-descended nations drift further from God, understanding of sin and repentance found in the Word of God will be judged as misinformation, disinformation or hate speech (Isaiah 59:14-15).
The prophet Amos vividly describes the fruitless search for God’s Word as a “famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, but shall not find it” (Amos 8:11-12).
These scriptures give us only the broad outlines of this situation, but it appears that in a deceived world (Revelation 12:9), the political and legal climate will become exceedingly critical and dismissive of true biblical Christianity. The Church’s task to “cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1) will be very challenging.
Even if a public media proclamation of the good news of Christ’s coming Kingdom gets shut off, silenced or canceled, we are reminded to “not be conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) and to “seek the LORD while He may be found” (Isaiah 55:6).
Learn more about events about to unfold and mankind’s future in our free booklet The Book of Revelation: The Storm Before the Calm.
