Freedom of speech. Freedom of thought. Freedom of religion. They're important. They're in the news. How do they relate to Christianity? Let's start thinking through it.

What does the Bible have to say about them?

Take John the Baptist as an example. He was the essential free speaker, the "voice of one, crying in the wilderness", preparing the way for God. He spoke freely, declaring a new, living religion. But then Herod stepped in, captured him, imprisoned him, and killed him. John (I have something I must speak freely about) is the good guy; Herod (I don't like your speech) is the bad guy.

In Daniel 6:7-23, there's the famous story of Daniel and the lions' den. Daniel was cast to the lions because he was speaking freely -- praying to Jehovah, not to King Darius -- against an edict of the government. Daniel's the good guy. Darius, until he repents, is the bad guy.

Perhaps the most powerful Biblical example is found throughout Jesus's ministry, which required freedom of speech -- the freedom to form, teach, and create a new religion. His free speech revolutionized the thoughts of his listeners. And, what did the powerful religious leaders of the day do? They accused him of blaspheming. They tried to trap him. To get him to recant. To be quiet. He knew that he couldn't do that; His mission was to bring new truths to a thirsty world.

There's a great "free speech" scene during Jesus's entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, in Luke 19:37-40:

"And when He was already near to the descent of the Mount of Olives, all the multitude of the disciples rejoicing began to praise God with a great voice for all the works of power that they had seen, saying, 'Blessed be the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!' And some of the Pharisees from among the crowd said to Him, 'Teacher, rebuke Thy disciples.' And He answering told them, 'I say to you, If these should be silent, the stones would cry out.'

These are pretty clear examples. The Bible values freedom of speech.

Free speech and free thought are closely related. Deep communication is a big part of what makes us human. Humans developed the ability to have large scale cooperation through shared stories. If we can't speak freely, we lose the ability to communicate real thoughts, and we lose the ability to share new ideas, and our potential drops away.

Here are three excerpts from Swedenborg's works that relate to this:

"...when free speech and freedom of the press are curtailed, freedom of thought, that is, of examining matters in a full and complete way, suffers as well.... Our higher understanding, then, adapts itself to fit the amount of freedom there is to say and do what we are considering." (True Christian Religion 814).

"No one is reformed in a state of intellectual blindness, either. These individuals, too, are not aware of truths and do not know about life, because it is our discernment that must instruct us in these matters and our volition that must act them out. When our volition is doing what our discernment tells it to, then we have a life in accord with truths; but when our discernment is blind, our volition is blocked as well." (Divine Providence 144)

"No one is reformed in states where freedom and rationality are absent." (Divine Providence 38)

I was talking about this with a friend, and he reminded me that there are grey areas, where some freedom and discernment exist, but they are limited. I think he's right; we're mostly living in these grey areas. There are probably rare cases where freedom and rationality are at zero -- maybe when someone is in a coma. And I doubt if anyone has 100% freedom or discernment. In some ways, this makes free speech and free thought even more important. Life is not crystal clear, or free, and things that can help us as we seek understanding and freedom are really precious.

The example of Helen Keller bears on this. She called the day that Anne Sullivan arrived at her house "my soul's birthday". In her autobiography, The Story of My Life (1903), Keller described the moment when she realized that the motion of Anne's fingers, spelling w-a-t-e-r into her hand symbolized the water that she was pouring over her hand:

"I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the motions of her fingers. Suddenly I felt a misty consciousness as of something forgotten — a thrill of returning thought; and somehow the mystery of language was revealed to me.... The living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, set it free!"

Helen Keller also said, “One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”

Free speech and free thought need each other. And... what about religion?

Religion is a core set of thoughts. If you're not free to speak, your thinking is trammeled. If you're not free to think, how can you hope to get to the core ideas about why we exist, and what we are going to do -- how we are going to live? Religion is at the heart of it. Even if you reject religion altogether, you're still living by some sort of belief system, even if it's materialistic or nihilistic.

If you're told what you have to believe, it doesn't usually work out very well. There's a natural tendency to rebel. We need that freedom to figure things out for ourselves.

Albert Einstein said something that speaks to this:

“It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom. Without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail.” - Paul Schilpp, "Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (1949) ‘Autobiographical Notes’"

And... here's another excerpt from Swedenborg's work, Heaven and Hell:

In a word, anything that does not enter us in freedom does not stay with us, because it does not belong to our love or intentions; and anything that does not belong to our love or intentions does not belong to our spirit. The actual reality of our spirit is love or volition - using the phrase "love or volition" because whatever we love, we intend. This is why we cannot be reformed except in a state of freedom. (Heaven and Hell 598)

M. Scott Peck reinforces this idea:

There is no such thing as a good hand-me-down religion. To be vital, to be the best of which we are capable, our religion must be a wholly personal one, forged entirely through the fire of our questioning and doubting in the crucible of our own experience of reality. - M. Scott Peck - The Road Less Travelled

Finally, let's go back to see what the Bible says about it, in these two stories:

Saul of Tarsus was persecuting Christians -- trying to destroy their freedom of religion. He had a miraculous conversion experience that led him to be renamed Paul, the great Christian teacher and evangelist. (See Acts 9)

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were persecuted - thrown in a fiery furnace - for worshipping in their own way, denying the edicts of Nebuchadnezzar. They were saved by an angel, who kept them from being burned. (See Daniel 3)

Wrapping it up...

It's pretty clear that free speech, free thought, and free religion are part of the same fabric. They're very much part of being human. They're well supported in the Bible. They've been woven into the better governments of our time.

We need to take good care of them. They're necessary for us to be able to learn truth, and reject falsity -- and to "Cease to do evil, learn to do good." (Isaiah 1:16)

30. The Word teaches that insofar as a person is not purified of his evils, the good that he does is not good, neither are his pieties pious, nor is he wise — and the converse — in this passage:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous..., but inside you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. (Matthew 23:27-28)

Woe to you...! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and intemperance. Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. (Matthew 23:25-26)

Also in this passage in Isaiah:

Hear the word of Jehovah, you princes of Sodom; hear the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah: “What is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? ...Bring no more empty sacrifice; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moon and the Sabbath...— I cannot endure iniquity.... Your New Moons and appointed feasts My soul hates.... When you spread out your hands, (therefore, ) I will hide My eyes from you; even if you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil.... If your sins have been like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; if they have been red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:10-18)

In sum this means that unless a person refrains from evils, his worship is not at all good, and so neither are his works. For the passage says, “I cannot endure iniquity.” “Make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings.” “Cease to do evil.”

In Jeremiah:

Turn now everyone from his evil way and make your works good. (Jeremiah 35:15)

[2] That these people are not wise:

In Isaiah:

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and intelligent in their own sight! (Isaiah 5:21)

Again in Isaiah:

The wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their intelligent men.... Woe to those who are deeply wise..., and their works are done in the dark. (Isaiah 29:14-15) And elsewhere in Isaiah:

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are strong, but who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek Jehovah! ...But He will arise against the house of evildoers, and against the help of those who work iniquity. For Egypt...is not God; and its horses are flesh, not spirit. (Isaiah 31:1-3) Thus is described a person’s own intelligence. Egypt means knowledge. A horse is the resulting understanding. A chariot is the resulting doctrine. A horseman is the resulting intelligence. Of these the passage says, “Woe to those...who do not look to the Holy One of Israel, and do not seek Jehovah!” Their destruction by evils is meant by Jehovah’s rising up “against the house of evildoers, and against the help of those who work iniquity.”

That these evils spring from their inherent nature, and so have no life in them, is meant by Egypt’s being man and not God, and its horses flesh and not spirit. Man and flesh mean a person’s inherent nature. God and spirit mean life from the Lord. The horses of Egypt are a person’s own intelligence.

There are many such passages in the Word regarding an understanding springing from oneself and an understanding received from the Lord, passages whose meaning can be seen only by means of the spiritual sense.

[3] That no one is saved by good springing from himself, because it is not good, is apparent from the following:

Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord, ” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father.... Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” But then I will declare to them, “I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity!” (Matthew 7:21-23)

And elsewhere:

...(then) you will begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us, ” and...you will begin to say, “We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.” But He will say, “I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.” (Luke 23:25-27) Such people are like the Pharisee who, standing in the Temple, prayed, saying that he was not like other people, greedy, unjust, lecherous, that he fasted twice a week and gave a tenth of all he possessed (Luke 18:11-14). They are also like the servants called useless servants (Luke 17:10).