Why does free speech matter? This is a hard question to answer reasonably and fairly given the powerful cultural and political pressures in play these days. Both the right and the left are working to shut down people they disagree with, and because of that it’s a good idea to revisit the arguments in favor of free speech. To that end, Suzanne Nossel has written Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All.
In four parts, Nossel discusses “Principles for Speaking”, “Principles for Listening”, “Principles to follow when debating free speech questions”, and “Principles to follow in considering speech-related policies.” In each of these sections, Nossel encourages us to exercise patience, restraint, and generally to assume the best of others (clearly, this is a radically counter-cultural book).
Free speech is something Christians would do well to think about. At least, we should if we value things like being able to share the Gospel publicly and promoting the issues and beliefs we hold in the marketplace of ideas.
To learn more about it, you can listen to an interview with the author here:
Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the City of Man Podcast an Amazon Associate (which is linked in this blog), and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO
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