{"id":1629,"date":"2022-04-27T05:20:14","date_gmt":"2022-04-27T10:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/"},"modified":"2022-04-27T05:20:14","modified_gmt":"2022-04-27T10:20:14","slug":"is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Elon Musk\u2019s purchase of Twitter good news for free speech?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Elon Musk has been called<\/a> \u201cAmerica\u2019s most powerful man.\u201d The world\u2019s richest person, he runs<\/a> Tesla, the world\u2019s most valuable<\/a> car company, as well as a rocket maker, a tunnel-digging firm, and a brain-tech company. Now he has purchased<\/a> Twitter for $44 billion.<\/p>\n

After the announcement, Musk said<\/a>, \u201cFree speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.\u201d Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey called Musk\u2019s takeover and privatization of the social media platform the \u201cright path\u201d for the company, tweeting, \u201cElon\u2019s goal of creating a platform that is \u2018maximally trusted and broadly inclusive\u2019 is the right one.\u201d<\/p>\n

But is this the good news for free speech and for conservatives that it is being called?<\/p>\n

Writing for National Review<\/em>, Dan McLaughlin notes<\/a> that with his purchase of Twitter, \u201cElon Musk is a hero to conservatives.\u201d Then he warns us, \u201cBut here\u2019s the important thing: he was once a hero to liberals and progressives, he wasn\u2019t always a hero to conservatives, he\u2019s not anything resembling a consistent conservative, and the day will come sooner or later that we are forcibly reminded that he is not one of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, Elon Musk is not \u201cthe light of the world.\u201d That job has already been taken.<\/p>\n

The only flashlight in a dark room<\/h2>\n

This week, we\u2019ve discussed ways to be the change we need to see by defeating<\/a> our \u201cbesetting\u201d sins and living<\/a> in the victorious power of Christ. This issue is vital not only for our souls but also for the future of our democracy.<\/p>\n

Jesus called his followers \u201cthe light of the world\u201d (Matthew 5:14). The definite article shows that we are the only <\/em>light of the entire \u201cworld.\u201d If I have the only flashlight in a dark room, the darkness is my fault. But when I display my light, it defeats the darkness every time (cf. John 1:5).<\/p>\n

As a result, the morality our democracy needs depends on Christians following Christ so passionately and obediently that others want to follow Christ. Such a moral transformation cannot be catalyzed by secular leaders, no matter how wealthy and powerful they are, or by secular institutions, no matter how pervasive and influential they might be.<\/p>\n

\u201cReligion and morality are indispensable supports\u201d<\/h2>\n

In a brilliant analysis<\/a> of our cultural moment, writer and attorney David French makes this point by reference to a historic document I often cite. John Adams, our second president, wrote<\/a> a letter in 1798 to the officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts (his home state). In it he makes the famous observation, \u201cOur Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is Adams\u2019 reasoning behind this assertion, however, that French wants us to consider: \u201cWe have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, Revenge, or Gallantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is why the US Constitution is adequate only for a \u201cmoral and religious People\u201d and cannot govern any other.<\/p>\n

The Constitution and the American legal system built upon it can help to restrict and punish immorality, but they cannot prevent it. If someone wants to slander you or steal from you, they can likely do so. At best, our system will help you seek redress and punish them for their crimes, but it cannot change the character that enabled such immorality.<\/p>\n

Adams was not alone in his opinion. George Washington noted<\/a> in his Farewell Address<\/em>, \u201cOf all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.\u201d He added, \u201cReason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe something I ought to do, I can do\u201d<\/h2>\n

French concludes: \u201cWhen our crisis is one of hatred, anxiety, and despair, don\u2019t look to politics to heal our hearts. Our government can\u2019t contend with \u2018human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion.\u2019 Our social fabric is fraying. The social compact is crumbling. Our government is imperfect, but if this republic fractures, its people will be to blame.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that our democracy needs Christians to act like Christ, to demonstrate the \u201cfruit\u201d of his Spirit (Galatians 5:22\u201323) and to declare and defend biblical truth in love (1 Peter 3:15\u201316; Ephesians 4:15). We must not allow the urgency and enormity of the challenge to paralyze us into inaction: we are not responsible for what we cannot do, only for what we can.<\/p>\n

In the famous words<\/a> of Edward Everett Hale, \u201cI am only one, but I am one. I can\u2019t do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do. And by the grace of God, I will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the key: to represent Jesus in public, we must worship Jesus in private. To be much for <\/em>him, we must be much with <\/em>him. To reflect his light to our dark world, our \u201cmirror\u201d must focus on him. The closer we are to Jesus, the more powerfully we can draw others to Jesus.<\/p>\n

Theologian N. T. Wright was right: \u201cYou become like what you worship. When you gaze in awe, admiration, and wonder at something or someone, you begin to take on something of the character of the object of your worship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who or what is the \u201cobject of your worship\u201d today?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Elon Musk has been called “America’s most powerful man.” The world’s richest person, he runs Tesla, the world’s most valuable car company, as well as a rocket maker, a tunnel-digging firm, and a brain-tech company. Now he has purchased Twitter…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4396,"featured_media":1630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Elon Musk\u2019s purchase of Twitter good news for free speech?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Elon Musk has been called “America’s most powerful man.” The world’s richest person, he runs Tesla, the world’s most valuable car company, as well as a rocket maker, a tunnel-digging firm, and a brain-tech company. Now he has purchased Twitter…\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Elon Musk\u2019s purchase of Twitter good news for free speech?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Elon Musk has been called “America’s most powerful man.” The world’s richest person, he runs Tesla, the world’s most valuable car company, as well as a rocket maker, a tunnel-digging firm, and a brain-tech company. Now he has purchased Twitter…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Denison Forum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-27T10:20:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1342\/2022\/04\/AP22111509988709-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jim Denison\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jim Denison\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/\",\"name\":\"Is Elon Musk\u2019s purchase of Twitter good news for free speech?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-27T10:20:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-27T10:20:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/#\/schema\/person\/51ebc15f5126c30a64ca0dece9587a1f\"},\"description\":\"Elon Musk has been called “America’s most powerful man.” The world’s richest person, he runs Tesla, the world’s most valuable car company, as well as a rocket maker, a tunnel-digging firm, and a brain-tech company. Now he has purchased Twitter…\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is Elon Musk\u2019s purchase of Twitter good news for free speech?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/\",\"name\":\"Denison Forum\",\"description\":\"The Denison Forum exists to thoughtfully engage the issues of the day from a biblical perspective.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/#\/schema\/person\/51ebc15f5126c30a64ca0dece9587a1f\",\"name\":\"Jim Denison\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/51d438af4c106a9fb95355d1b88ee88d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/51d438af4c106a9fb95355d1b88ee88d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jim Denison\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/author\/jdenison\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is Elon Musk\u2019s purchase of Twitter good news for free speech?","description":"Elon Musk has been called “America’s most powerful man.” The world’s richest person, he runs Tesla, the world’s most valuable car company, as well as a rocket maker, a tunnel-digging firm, and a brain-tech company. Now he has purchased Twitter…","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is Elon Musk\u2019s purchase of Twitter good news for free speech?","og_description":"Elon Musk has been called “America’s most powerful man.” The world’s richest person, he runs Tesla, the world’s most valuable car company, as well as a rocket maker, a tunnel-digging firm, and a brain-tech company. Now he has purchased Twitter…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/","og_site_name":"Denison Forum","article_published_time":"2022-04-27T10:20:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/1342\/2022\/04\/AP22111509988709-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jim Denison","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jim Denison","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/","name":"Is Elon Musk\u2019s purchase of Twitter good news for free speech?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-04-27T10:20:14+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-27T10:20:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/#\/schema\/person\/51ebc15f5126c30a64ca0dece9587a1f"},"description":"Elon Musk has been called “America’s most powerful man.” The world’s richest person, he runs Tesla, the world’s most valuable car company, as well as a rocket maker, a tunnel-digging firm, and a brain-tech company. Now he has purchased Twitter…","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/2022\/04\/is-elon-musks-purchase-of-twitter-good-news-for-free-speech\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is Elon Musk\u2019s purchase of Twitter good news for free speech?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/","name":"Denison Forum","description":"The Denison Forum exists to thoughtfully engage the issues of the day from a biblical perspective.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/#\/schema\/person\/51ebc15f5126c30a64ca0dece9587a1f","name":"Jim Denison","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/51d438af4c106a9fb95355d1b88ee88d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/51d438af4c106a9fb95355d1b88ee88d?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Jim Denison"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/author\/jdenison\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/denisonforum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}