Ministry of Truth

Fireworks come in all shapes and sizes. You may be aware of the preliminary injunction issued in Louisiana by U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty on Independence Day of this year, just as our nation was celebrating our shared freedoms. The federal court handed down a ruling that government agencies may not work together with social media to censor free speech. If you have an interest in the First Amendment, this development will be of interest to you. Referring specifically to the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, the judge prohibited discussions with social media companies aimed at “encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”

I won’t get into a lot of the details here, but what caught my attention was the judge’s reference to George Orwell’s 1984. Many of us read the novel in high school and will never forget the power of “doublethink” – the strange ability to hold two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and to accept both of them. I’ll quote directly from Judge Doughty: “Evidence produced thus far depicts an almost dystopian scenario. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a period perhaps best characterized by widespread doubt and uncertainty, the United States Government seems to have assumed a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth.'” I will note that the action taken by the judge on July 4 was a temporary injunction, and not a permanent ruling.

I think it’s right for us to remember that the Church can flourish in parts of the world where there is no “freedom of speech” as we know it here in America. That being acknowledged, however, I think it’s critical for us to establish that speech itself is what distinguishes us from the rest of Creation. It’s an important dimension of our personhood, and of our bearing the image of our Creator. Speech is sacred in that sense, and in others. I’ll cite just a few examples. God created the world by speech. Adam named the animals, and thus entered into his proper role of dominion, by speech. The Lord revealed His law by speech. The prophets revealed the will of God for His people by speech. Jesus revealed His glorious gospel by speech. And Christ ordained that you and I would share that saving gospel, with the whole world, by speech … So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). I think you’ll agree with me that speech is inherently sacred on multiple levels.

So freedom of speech is a great good. It is an outworking of God’s common grace. It is a blessing that you and I ought not take for granted. As followers of Christ, we are under a covenant obligation to speak the truth in love. It’s a sacred trust among the people of God. And we ought to desire freedom of speech for everyone, and to work for such a cherished liberty on behalf of every other image-bearer – even those with whom we might vehemently disagree. After all, we’ll never know we’re wrong about anything if there are no opposing voices for us to consider. If you’re interested in this subject from history (from Great Britain, specifically), check out John Stuart Mill’s essay from 1859, On Liberty.

As I mentioned in my sermon on July 2, I’m encouraged by a landmark decision handed down (the week prior to the Louisiana injunction) by the U.S. Supreme Court in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, and I’ll quote from the majority opinion: “A commitment to speech for only some messages and some persons is no commitment at all … If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. In this case, Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance … But, as this Court has long held, the opportunity to think for ourselves and to express those thoughts freely is among our most cherished liberties and part of what keeps our Republic strong. Of course, abiding the Constitution’s commitment to the freedom of speech means all of us will encounter ideas we consider unattractive, misguided, or even hurtful. But tolerance, not coercion, is our Nation’s answer. The First Amendment envisions the United States as a rich and complex place where all persons are free to think and speak as they wish, not as the government demands.”

These things matter, friends, because the world in which we live – including, sadly, our own American civilization – has married moral relativism and cultural dominance. It’s like we’ve kept the political zeal of the colonists but jettisoned their moral restraints. That leaves us in a very precarious position, humanly speaking.

We do need a ministry of Truth. And we do need a Big Brother. Just not a government one. Come, Lord Jesus!

Pastor Charles