In the aftermath of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, countless demonically influenced (if not fully possessed) individuals from all walks of life have been publicly expressing their joy over his demise, insisting that he had it coming to him thanks to his vocal opposition to such sacred tenets of leftist orthodoxy as abortion, transgenderism, and gun control.
Some among these godless miscreants have even gone so far as to call for similar treatment of anyone who might share Kirk’s views and dare to likewise espouse them in the public forum.
Many commentators on the political right are accusing their shrieking adversaries of deliberately stoking fear as a means of silencing dissent. Tucker Carlson, for example, had this to say:
This is a trend and one that we should be really concerned about … The trend is really simple. People with power don’t want to hear disagreement. They don’t want to be challenged. Ever. That’s why we have free speech. To acknowledge that even those of us, or people with less power, still have a right to talk because they’re human beings.
About Charlie Kirk, Carlson said:
Charlie was a free speech champion … So, when Charlie Kirk said, “I believe in free speech,” he didn’t simply believe in free speech because it was in the Bill of Rights. He understood that it was in the Bill of Rights because it’s in the New Testament.
Allowing that Tucker Carlson may not have been at the top of his game given the tragic loss of his friend, it must be said that no such right to free speech is to be found anywhere in the New Testament.
In fact, on the contrary:
Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth: but that which is good, to the edification of faith: that it may administer grace to the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29)
As St. Paul’s exhortation plainly indicates, no one possesses a right to freely to engage in speech apart from that which is good. Evil speech – that which is tantamount to an assault on truth and beauty and goodness – is, in fact, a grave offense against Almighty God. In other words, the New Testament very clearly does not support free speech American style.
Even so, Tucker Carlson isn’t alone. Many other self-identified conservative Christian commentators, including no small number of Catholics, are likewise sounding the alarm in defense of a supposed right to free speech, as if such a thing was granted to mankind by the Creator Himself.
Some neo-con crusaders have even been known to pledge:
I may despise your opinions (e.g., regarding the slaughtering of unborn babies, the genital mutilation of adolescents, etc.), but I’d go to war to defend your right to speak them!
Free speech hysteria, however, infects individuals on both sides of the aisle.
Just a few days ago, the ABC television network decided to suspend the late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel over remarks that he made regarding the death of Charlie Kirk.
Commentators on the political left swiftly took to social media to denounce Kimmel’s suspension as an assault on, you guessed it, almighty free speech.
Adding to the frenzy were comments recently made by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who warned, “We will absolutely target you, go after you, if you are targeting anyone with hate speech.”
This caused a major uproar across the entire political spectrum, but most notably among conservatives who treat the U.S. Constitution as holy writ, after which, Bondi issued a clarifying statement saying:
Freedom of speech is sacred in our country, and we will never impede upon that right. My intention was to speak about threats of violence that individuals incite against others.
Does a blue haired tranny going on TikTok to declare that Kirk deserved to get shot qualify as an incitement of violence? Is it enough simply to speak of his killer as a hero? How about those who merely insist that the world is better off without Charlie Kirk?
Are these sorts of public pronouncements unlawful, or are they just unsavory examples of our sacred free speech in action?
So many questions…
Thankfully, His Holiness Pope Leo has gifted the world with a timeless and immensely valuable treatise on this very topic.
No, not the man presently flitting about the Vatican vested in white, but rather Pope Leo XIII of blessed memory in the Encyclical, Libertas, On the Nature of Human Liberty (Given 20 June 1888).
Getting right to the relevant point, the Holy Father states:
We must now consider briefly liberty of speech, and liberty of the press. It is hardly necessary to say that there can be no such right as this, if it be not used in moderation, and if it pass beyond the bounds and end of all true liberty. (ibid., art. 23)
Reading these words more than a century after they were written, it seems absolutely necessary in our day to say that there can be such right to free speech!
At this, however, one must ask: What exactly is true liberty?
The Holy Father explains:
The eternal law of God is the sole standard and rule of human liberty … Therefore, the true liberty of human society does not consist in every man doing what he pleases … but rather that through the injunctions of the civil law all may more easily conform to the prescriptions of the eternal law. (ibid., art. 10)
Get that? Contrary to popular opinion, censorship isn’t a dirty word after all.
In order for true liberty to exist, it is necessary for the law of the land, and those who are charged with enforcing it, to establish boundaries that aid in conforming both individual men and society to the dictates of the eternal law, and that includes with respect to matters of speech.
This invites more questions still:
How and by whom is the eternal law, which in its fullness exists only in the mind of God, made known to us in such measure as to foster and safeguard true liberty?
The Holy Father tells us:
It is manifest that man’s best and surest teacher is God, the Source and Principle of all truth … God Himself made the Church a partaker of His divine authority, and through His heavenly gift she cannot be deceived. She is therefore the greatest and most reliable teacher of mankind, and in her swells an inviolable right to teach them. (cf, ibid., Art. 26,27)
Yes, I do realize that this isn’t exactly comforting for those of us who live in a nation, the Constitution of which demands that the Holy Catholic religion be afforded no more consideration or favor than the many false religions. (To say nothing of the sad state of ecclesial affairs.)
In other words, the civil authority in the United States certainly cannot be trusted to decide what forms of communication merit censorship and which do not. At least on this we can all agree.
The bottom line, however, remains unchanged: Wrapping oneself in the American flag and mindlessly insisting upon our so-called Constitutional right to free speech is unworthy of anyone who lays claim to the name Catholic.
His Holiness Pope Leo XIII tells us why:
If unbridled license of speech and of writing be granted to all, nothing will remain sacred and inviolate; even the highest and truest mandates of natures, justly held to be the common and noblest heritage of the human race, will not be spared. Thus, truth being gradually obscured by darkness, pernicious and manifold error, as too often happens, will easily prevail. (ibid., Art. 23)
Does this not describe the present state of affairs here in the U.S. and elsewhere to a tee?
Yes, but look at the situation in England. Citizens are put in jail for ‘offensive’ social media posts! Free speech is a human right!
Ironically, far from representing a mechanism of defense against the radical left’s war against all that is good and godly, the bogus right to free speech – whereby diabolical leftists have long been granted license to lawfully say, write, publish, and teach all manner of evil – has only served to enable their agenda to prevail to the extent that it has.
Generation after generation of radicalized, indoctrinated, spiritual imbeciles who ascend to positions of power in government, media, academia, industry, entertainment, public policy, healthcare…
In substantial measure, this dreadful reality is directly attributable to the unbridled license of speech and of writing about which Pope Leo XIII warned.
So, what can we do about it?
Look, there are some things that you and I cannot fix. Our form of governance is one of them.
Sure, we can and should pray (as I often do) that the Lord will frustrate the plans of His enemies, somehow sparing us, our children, and grandchildren from the devastation that looms on the horizon. Even so, and sorry to say, perhaps our prayers should be ordered more toward seeking the grace to withstand whatever may come.
That said, at the very least, those of us who call ourselves Catholic can, and must, cease to speak of free speech American style as if it is something to be cherished.
