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)

483. V. Without free will in spiritual matters the Word would not be of any use, nor in consequence would the church be.

It is well known throughout the Christian world that the Word is, broadly speaking, the Law, that is, a book of laws in accordance with which a person must live, in order to be granted everlasting life. Is there anything it says more often than that man must do good and not evil, and he must believe in God and not in idols? The Word is also full of commands and exhortations to these actions, with blessings and promises of rewards for those who do so, and curses and threats of punishment for those who do not. Unless man had free will in spiritual matters, that is, in matters concerned with salvation and everlasting life, what would all this be but empty words serving no use? And if anyone were to cling to the idea that he lacked any power or freedom in spiritual matters, so that he was without any will-power in these matters, would not Holy Scripture look to him like a blank piece of paper with no letters on it, or like a piece of paper over which a whole pot of ink had been emptied, or just serifs and dots with no letters, that is to say, a book with nothing in it?

[2] There would hardly be any need to prove this from the Word, but since present-day churches have plunged so deeply into mental inanity in spiritual matters, citing certain passages in support which they have wrongly interpreted, I am obliged to quote some passages which tell men how to act and believe. These are:

The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation that produces its fruits, Matthew 21:43.

Produce fruit worthy of repentance; at any moment now the axe is put to the root of the tree. So every tree which does not produce good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire, Luke 3:8-9.

Jesus said, why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and not do what I say? Everyone who comes to me and listens to what I say and does that is like a man building a house upon rock. But one who listens and does not do it, is like a man building his house on soil with no foundation, Luke 6:46-49.

Jesus said, My mother and my brothers are these who hear the Word of God and act upon it, Luke 8:21.

We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone worships God and does His will, He listens to him, John 9:31.

If you know these things, you are blessed if you act upon them, John 13:17.

He who possesses my commandments and does them is the one who loves me, and I will love him, John 14:21.

In this is my Father glorified, by your bringing forth much fruit, John 15:8.

You are my friends, if you do whatever I bid you. I have chosen you to bear fruit, and for your fruit to keep, John 15:14, 16.

Make the tree good; by its fruit the tree is known, Matthew 12:33.

Produce fruit worthy of repentance, Matthew 3:8.

The one who sowed seed on good land is the one who hears the Word and bears fruit, Matthew 13:23.

He who reaps receives his wage, and gathers the fruit for everlasting life, John 4:36.

Wash yourselves, cleanse yourselves, put away the wickedness of your deeds; learn to do good, Isaiah 1:16-17.

The Son of Man is to come in the glory of His Father, and He will then deal with each according to his deeds, Matthew 16:27.

Those who have done good deeds will go forth to be resurrected to life, John 5:29.

Their deeds accompany them, Revelation 14:13.

Behold, I come soon and my reward is with me, so that I may give to each according to what he has done, Revelation 22:12.

Jehovah, whose eyes are open, to give to each in accordance with his behaviour; He deals with us according to our deeds, Jeremiah 32:19; Zechariah 1:6.

[3] The Lord teaches the same lesson in the parables, many of which imply that those who do good are accepted and those who do evil are rejected: as in the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 21:33-44), that of the talents and minas, with which they had to trade (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:13-25). Likewise Jesus said about faith:

He who believes in me shall never die, but live, John 11:25-26.

This is the Father's will, that everyone who believes in the Son should have everlasting life, John 6:40.

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; he, however, who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him, John 3:36.

God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life, John 3:15-16.

Furthermore:

You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. And you are to love the neighbour as yourself. The law and the prophets depend upon these two commandments, Matthew 22:37-40.

These are a minute selection from the Word and like a few pints of water drawn from the sea.