Dates of Interest
Freedom of Speech?
Dr Mahbub Gani, King’s College London, told us that the idea of ‘freedom’ is not immutable but dynamic, the nature of freedom, and freedom of speech, is developing and evolving even while it is being challenged. Wrestling with the idea of freedom of speech should cause us to reflect on why we value truth and what ‘truth’ means in a post-Christian, post-modernist world. Thus freedom needs to take into account whether it is up to date, or in sync, with the current reality. A benchmark for calls for freedom should be – ‘how efficacious are these values?’ Good values can be a protection from collective depression. However, traditional values cannot always bear the weight of current realities and we need to delve deeper into transcendent (spiritual) values, which may be more inclusive and encouraging of freedom.
- In a democracy, which is also a multi-faith society, can there be any justification under Freedom of Expression for promoting hatred of the “other”?
- When a democracy is under threat by terrorism, to what extent should “my freedom of expression” be limited so as not to encroach upon the safety of another citizen?
- In a democracy at war in a foreign country, where do we draw the line between Freedom of Speech to criticise the policies of the government and using Freedom of Expression to encourage volatile and life threatening confrontation?
2. Society may need to live dangerously and take risks, risky debate should not be curtailed
3. The state will always want to control treacherous behaviour, some of the issues around freedom of speech and security may be indicating that the nation-state is not working
- Is there a difference between political and religious challenges to the nation state? – people often fail to see the benefits of exploring alternatives, it is important to avoid binary ways of looking at things
- On freedom of expression/religious hatred – God’s ideas don’t need protection, people do, especially where hatred of religion endangers them
- Extreme patriotism/nationalism can present a danger to ‘the other’ seeking to exercise freedom of speech
This was a joint event for National Inter Faith Week with the Joseph Interfaith Foundation, we were pleased to be working with the King's College London Interfaith Network.
