How Will it End?
Gay rights and “homophobic hate speech” are not the only reasons for denying free speech in the public square. The children and grandchildren of the “free speech” movement of the Sixties are now getting cold feet and closed minds about other issues that do not fit with the new morals of progressive thought. A case in point. The Student Government Association at venerable Johns Hopkins University denied official club status at the school to the pro-life group, Voice for Life. They accused the group of harassment for making clear statements about the nature of abortion. Some on the council compared the pro-life group to white supremacists. The same day the GSA granted student club status to a pro-Palestinian student group, whose anti-Semitism and past violence seems to pose no problem.
How interesting that on a campus famous for its top-of-the-line medical school, many future doctors and nurses must be shielded from the truth about abortion and how it hurts women, families and preborn babies. The further irony is that Johns Hopkins University motto is “The Truth Will Set You Free.”
A Student Government Association member objected to pro-life displays and arguments saying she “felt personally violated, targeted and attacked at a place where we previously felt safe and free to live our lives.” This is like the freedom of a strip joint where no word dare be raised about morality. Only a certain kind of freedom is desired—freedom from any moral questions raised against one’s chosen life-style and from the inconvenience of defending one’s actions. An SGA senator said: “we have the right to protect our students from things that are uncomfortable. Why should people have to defend their beliefs on their way to class?” Indeed, why should they have to defend themselves on their way to anywhere?
This morning Al Mohler noted the disappearance from the public discourse of any moral considerations regarding homosexuality, though he noted that all our laws have a moral foundation. In such a culture in future days, it will doubtless be illegal to preach the Gospel because of the discomfort it raises about our sinful state. We will claim the right to be free and safe from hearing about the Fall and about our desperate need of a Savior.
In the first century, the Roman statesman, Tacitus, called Christians who opposed abortion, saved babies left out to die, and preached the gospel as the power of god unto salvation as “haters of humanity.” They did not endorse the spiritual oneism of the pagan Empire. If something does not change in our time, this is surely where it will end for us.