COMMENTARY: Religious Bullies Threaten Freedom of Speech

c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) It is time to speak freely about freedom: freedom of speech, belief and doubt. Readers tell about congregations where only one point of view is allowed to speak, judicatory executives who require conformity to their views, civic settings where patriotism is judged by religious fealty, and political venues where […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) It is time to speak freely about freedom: freedom of speech, belief and doubt.

Readers tell about congregations where only one point of view is allowed to speak, judicatory executives who require conformity to their views, civic settings where patriotism is judged by religious fealty, and political venues where religion-based bullying goes beyond hardball politics to include threats of violence.


I sense a growing attitude that freedom of speech is expendable, even dangerous, for if one’s views are absolutely right, then allowing someone to disagree is unnecessary.

Freedom of speech is more than uttering words in public. It includes the freedom to search, aloud if necessary, for what one doesn’t know, even if doing so violates one group’s certainty that they know it all. It includes the freedom to disagree, even to disagree with one group’s conviction that God has revealed absolute truth to them. It includes the freedom to compromise, even if doing so allows room for views and people that strike one group as anathema.

Freedom of belief requires a freedom to grow up. For in faith, as in life, we pass through stages, from magic to literalism to blame-centered rebellion and to revering external authority, and we move on to asking our own questions, exploring ambiguity and paradox, and living for others.

A healthy society encourages people to grow up as full human beings. That means not only learning useful job skills and citizenship loyalties, but maturing emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.

An unhealthy society, by contrast, tries to prevent maturation, by freezing people at stages where they can be manipulated and exploited. Get people fixated on children’s games, girlish figures, non-stop fun and instant gratification. Encourage religious belief to stop at early stages, such as magic rituals, rote memorization, superstar leaders, unquestioned sacred texts and increasingly hostile attitudes toward outsiders.

Why would a society do this? Think about it. What mature adult would shop recklessly? Or accept institutionalized deprivation? Or allow corrupt politicians to amass power? Powerful elites have a genius for offering circuses, magic, special salutes, scapegoating and manufactured gods.

Why would religion go along? If Jesus affirmed maturation leading to self-denial and servanthood, and if Paul affirmed growing up, embracing diversity and getting outside ourselves, why would religious leaders abandon such quests and focus instead on magic rituals, group hatred and adolescent loyalty oaths? Same reasons: power and wealth. Religious empires aren’t built on explorations leading to maturity, but on pre-packaged answers and claims of superiority.


Freedom of belief means not being coerced into stopping short of maturity, not being punished for thinking for oneself, not being declared a sinner for exploring ambiguity, for questioning external authority or for valuing diversity.

When religious bullies declare it wrong to ask questions, wrong to have non-standard interpretations, wrong to rethink inherited systems and wrong to consider multiple sources of authority, they do a grave disservice.

Freedom of doubt means standing against the tyranny of certainty. For those who gird their loins with absolute convictions can become demonic.

Wrapped in certainty, people wound without remorse. They think themselves called to oppress, even to kill. They think their desires superior to all others.’ They mistake their opinions for absolute truth. They declare all dissent morally wrong.

Convinced of their righteousness, religious bullies attack relentlessly and think their work to be the very work of God. They show no mercy, because God “hates sin.” They show no restraint, because faith requires victory. In their absolutes, there is no room for compromise or coexistence.

We must see that doubt isn’t a moral flaw. Doubt is a sign of maturity and openness to God. Faith is born in repentance _ changing one’s mind _ and it is constantly born and reborn, as what one knew is joined by what one hadn’t yet learned. Without freedom of doubt, we cannot repent. Without repentance, we cannot believe.


MO/PH END RNS

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, consultant and leader of workshops. His forthcoming book, “Just Wondering, Jesus: 100 Questions People Want to Ask,” will be published by Morehouse Publishing. An Episcopal priest, he lives in Durham, N.C. His Web site is http://www.onajourney.org.)

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