Abortion vs. Free Speech
Which of these election issues is more important to a believer?
For the past 50 years, many Christians focused their political choices on one issue — abortion. It is not hard to see why. Killing the unborn matters to God. Governments are supposed to protect the weak and murder — abortion — matters to the Almighty. It is not only great cruelty but is an insult to Almighty God, to whom all human life ultimately belongs. This is why J.D. Vance’s assertion that President Trump would veto a national abortion ban if it came across his desk feels like a betrayal.
However, free speech is at least as important as abortion — maybe more — and here is why.
Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-4)
What are we praying for? We must pray that leaders will allow us to live out our faith without interference. According to this passage that includes sharing the gospel so that all can come to the knowledge of truth.
What is disinformation?
Free speech might be the most important issue in the present election. There are those in power who would seek to censor any type of speech that defies establishment purposes and values. It is this issue alone that has made Elon Musk and X the target of the political left. This is the reason that Pavel Durov CEO of the social media platform Telegram sits in a Paris jail. The campaign against “disinformation” is the declared goal of the democratic party in this election.
In a chilling article in the Guardian, Robert Reich declared Elon Musk to be “out of control” and made suggestions about how he might be reigned in, including arresting him–this is for being a champion of free speech.
The first person to claim “disinformation” in human history was Satan, and the first one accused of speaking “disinformation” was God Himself (Genesis 3:4-5).
Disinformation is anything the ruling party believes to be or declares untrue. To them, the Genesis account of creation could easily be disinformation. Let’s consider the following consequences of losing our freedom of speech.
Without free speech, we cannot continue the fight for the unborn. The miscalculation of conservatives and Christians on the issue of abortion has been cataclysmic. We fought in the courts against abortion for 50 years, but now that the Dobbs decision has been handed down, abortion is being codified in state constitutions across the country. The most important aspect of our future fight against abortion will be in convincing young, often afraid, pregnant women that the baby they carry is a human being, created by God and worthy of life. We will have to fight for the unborn one baby at a time and we will have to convince rather than legislate. If we lose freedom of speech, we will be limited not only in fighting legally against abortion but also in convincing individuals to save their babies.
Without free speech, we lose the opportunity to share the gospel. Sharing the gospel is illegal in many countries around the world. In countries where it is still possible to evangelize, establishing churches to disciple those believers is severely limited or illegal altogether. The Great Commission does not mandate us directly to go into all the world and save all the unborn babies. I think I could make the case that such activity is a clear consequence of the Great Commission. However, an attack on freedom of speech is a direct attack on the Great Commission and the transformed lives that result.
Without free speech, we cannot speak up for biblical marriage. If we cannot speak up for our values regarding the nature of marriage as established by God as between one man and one woman. We will also not be able to defend ourselves when the federal government demands that we honor such marriages in our religious institutions. Without free speech, we cannot declare sin to be sin because it offends those who commit such acts.
Without free speech, even our ability to raise and protect our children is in jeopardy. Our ability to fight against laws that would divide children from their parents can easily be taken away. Consider the trans-refuge laws in California and Minnesota as an example.
Without free speech, the Bible itself will be censored.
“No, they can’t do that. The Bible has been around forever.”
This is happening right now around the world. We would be fools to think that it could not happen here. People who are considered political enemies are already being surveilled by our government. Former Congresswoman and Army Lt. Colonel Tulsi Gabbard has been put on the TSA’s Quiet Skies list, most likely because of her political speech. This will be the fate of believers who speak biblical values in public if we lose the free speech battle.
Speech police become the thought police. In the U.K. a woman was arrested for standing outside of an abortion clinic, when it was not opened for business, and praying silently. Charges were later dropped and she received an apology, but Stalin-like restrictions on the practice of faith can easily be implemented in Western cultures.
There is a temptation for believers to drop out of the decision-making process in discouragement over the recent Republican Party’s capitulation the abortion issue. But other issues are equally, if not more important. Free speech is the most important issue in this election.
By protest vote or by abstention, we must not fritter away the freedoms of speech and conscience that our forefathers worked so hard to achieve. The choice we have before us is not a perfect choice, but it is a clear one.
Listen to the audio version of this post here: Abortion vs. Free Speech – Podcast