Tag Archives: Free Speech

Is there anything in the atheistic worldview that rationally grounds human rights?

Support for free speech in different countries
Support for free speech in different countries (Source: Pew Research)

I think it’s useful for Christians in America to look at what is happening to Christians in other countries, so that we can understand what the future holds for us. Most other countries are further along the road to secularism than America is, so you can how a secular government reacts when a Christian exercises his or her free speech rights in public.

Here’s an example from Finland:

A Christian politician who is under police investigation for sharing a Bible verse on Facebook has spoken out about her shocking ordeal.

In June, Finnish politician Päivi Räsänen called out the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland for its participation in the Helsinki Pride events, sharing a passage from Romans 1 to prove her point.

As a result, authorities opened an investigation into Räsänen, who is a member of The Christian Democrats party and also the former Minister of the Interior.

Speaking to Faithwire, Räsänen said that she was motivated to share the scripture after hearing her church denomination had decided to endorse events that are in contradiction with God’s word.

She perceives that the government’s criminal investigation of her “offensive speech” will cause other Christians to be frightened about speaking out against sin in public:

One of the most shocking elements of this case is that the authorities have decided to charge the politician with “agitation against an ethnic group” — an accusation that she believes is not only false, but also something that will also have grave ramifications for the Finnish Christian community and freedom of religion as a whole.

“Already the fact that a police investigation has been started and there is a suspect of a crime has a significant effect to freedom of speech and religion in practice,” she told Faithwire.

“I am worried that the police investigation has had a chilling effect among Christians. It seems that many Christians in my country are now hiding and going to the closet now that the LGBT-community has come out to the public.”

The politician said she was concerned that Christians will become increasingly less inclined to share scripture on public platforms out of a fear that they are will be arrested for offending a certain group of people.

Wow, she’s right about that. Unfortunately, in America, I have yet to see pastors in any church I’ve attended warning people about the loss of liberties that Christians experience when they are ruled by atheists. And I attend conservative PCA and SBC churches, although I would not attend an SBC church any more.

Here’s another story from South Africa, where a Christian doctor has lost his medical license for merely expressing pro-life views:

A hearing by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) against an anti-abortion doctor got off to a rocky start and had to be temporarily adjourned on Tuesday in Cape Town.

Jacques de Vos, 32, is facing charges of unprofessional conduct and was prohibited from practising medicine due to his views on abortion.

The former intern at 2 Military Hospital in Wynberg allegedly told a patient more than two years ago that a foetus was a human being. He allegedly likened abortion to killing an unborn human, while working for the gynaecology division during his intern year.

At the hearing it emerged that De Vos was only a week short of finishing his medical degree before he did his community service.

South Africa is a communist country, which means that the rulers of the country are atheists. Communism is an atheistic ideology that does not recognize human rights. This is because in order to have human rights, you need a God to design the universe with those rights, such that other humans have to respect those rights. Atheism starts with an accidental universe, and finishes with humans that evolved accidentally, through a process of evolution that was random and unplanned. So, it’s not surprising to see governments in atheistic countries mistreating Christians, and using the power of government to compel them to act like atheists.

It would be nice to see leaders in churches setting aside some time to warn Christians about the dangers of being ruled by atheists. But what I see happening with young people is that atheism is being sold to them as glamorous through false ideologies. Socialism, which has only ever made people poor, is presented to them as a solution to poverty. The Southern Baptist church that I recently attended was mostly concerned with opening up our borders to refugees and illegal aliens, and equalizing incomes by giving power to a secular government. If it were up to me, they’d be focused on evidential apologetics, rolling back radical feminism, and explaining how the free market system produces prosperity. But they have other priorities. By the time Bible-believing Christian leaders realize that anything is going on, it will be too late to stop it.

Twitter bans free speech activist after she responds to hate speech from transgender activist

J3551c4 Y4n1v
J3551c4 Y4n1v

Remember L1nd54y 5h3ph3rd, the Canadian graduate student who was sanctioned by her university for showing a video clip that presented both sides of the transgender debate? Well, a transgender activist tweeted hateful comments at her about her womb and her pregnancy, and when she replied, Twitter decided to permanently ban her from their platform, with no appeal.

Here’s the story from the famous Canadian blog The Post Millennial:

One of Canada’s most outspoken free speech advocates, L1nd54y 5h3ph3rd, has been permanently suspended from Twitter. The suspension comes after a jousting match with a notorious trans woman named JY who has been accused of predatory behaviour toward children and making frivolous human rights complaints.

The Post Millennial reached out to 5h3ph3rd who said, “I got suspended for two tweets (although they didn’t tell me exactly which tweets were the problem so I am giving my best guess): last night, JY tweeted that I have a loose vagina from pushing a 10 pound baby out, but JY still has a “tight pussy” (in reality, JY still has male genitalia according to the proceedings of the current human rights tribunals he’s been testifying in; and in reality I had a C-section and a 6 pound 10 oz baby).”

“I replied that this is something a man who has no functional romantic relationships with women would say, but that, I guess that describes him pretty well. Then, Y4n1v mocked a reproductive abnormality I have (a septate uterus), and so I replied saying ‘at least I have a uterus, you fat ugly man.’ I thought, ‘I can’t allow him to make these misogynistic remarks about me and not fight back.’ I deleted the comments I made this morning but found out was suspended in the afternoon.”

After making the hate-filled, anti-woman comments and getting the response, Y4n1v took the response to Twitter and demanded that L1nd54y should be banned. Twitter complied. A straight woman is further down on the intersectionality totem pole than a transgender woman, so the straight woman loses her rights to free speech.

By the way, here is a short 5-minute of L1nd54y 5h3ph3rd explaining what Twitter did to her:

You might also have heard about a progressive feminist named M38h4n Murphy, who was also banned from Twitter because of complaints by Y4n1v. Twitter banned her, despite her impeccable progressive feminist credentials.

More about Y4n1v:

According to Y4n1v, estheticians should be obliged to provide waxing services to a female-identifying trans person and religious and cultural views should not interfere with the ability to access that service.

“The people that discriminated against me are forcing their beliefs on society,” said Y4n1v.

While Y4n1v disregards the cultural or religious beliefs of the esthetician, she is making the ballsy argument that people should be forced to wax clients with male genitalia if they self-identify as a woman.

To wax a client’s penis, an individual must handle the scrotum and the shaft of the penis.

Individuals with a penis can get erections during the process, some even leak a small amount of pre-ejaculate.

While the thought of forcing anyone to handle a sexual organ as a mandatory part of their non-medical job sounds insane, especially when you consider the potential for predatory behaviour, the Human Rights Tribunal actually seems to be taking it very seriously instead of treating it as an absurd farce.

[…]Should J3551c4 win, women working out of their homes who provide waxing services to women will be told that they will have to handle a penis against their will in the province of B.C

The story has even been picked up in one of Canada’s national newspapers. The specific details of the trial cannot be reported, because the British Columbia courts slapped a publication ban on the trial, so that no one would find out how the government of Canada essentially forces ordinary women into prostitution at gunpoint, if an LGBT activist requests it.

Y4n1v has 16 open lawsuits against women who declined to perform genital waxes on Y4n1v. But that’s the sort of person who has the full support of the government in Canada. No one in the courts or the government is capable of making rational moral decisions, because the country has long since abandoned Judeo-Christian moral values, and the framework of beliefs that made those moral values binding. You can’t just start with Judeo-Christian moral values, take out God, and have the thing hold together. And now even people on the left are starting to realize that concepts like “justice” and “fairness” don’t exist in a vacuum.

This really happened. And if we aren’t careful how we vote, it could easily happen here. There is no doubt in my mind that if the Democrats occupied the House, Senate and Presidency, then this sort of thing would happen here.

By the way, it’s not just Twitter that bans disagreement with transgenderism. The popular blogging platform WordPress also does, despite presenting themselves as champions of free speech.

Something completely unrelated

I saw this interesting story in the UK Daily Mail, and I just thought I’d put it into this post as a sort of random, unrelated story:

Describing the stabbing, prosecution barrister Richard Atkins QC said: ‘CCTV captured what can only be described as a frenzied attack.

‘She lunged and attacked him about the head and neck area using both knives, making repeated attempts to stab him.’

Mr Knibbs was caught ‘completely off-guard’, with the 52-year-old recalling the sight of his own blood.

Mr Atkins said: ‘He was aware of blood pumping out of his neck and could see it on the wall behind him.’

Despite being stabbed in the throat, in a blow which nicked both his carotid artery and jugular vein, Mr Knibbs managed to grab both J35k4’s wrists while shocked colleagues rushed to his aid.

In the melee, two other men – Tim Begley and Kevan Taylor – were injured as J35k4 resisted, before half a dozen workers managed to pin her to the ground until police arrived.

[…][Knibbs] had also suffered a stroke during the assault, resulting in partial permanent sight-loss.

[…]Prosecutor Mr Atkins said that J35k4 told a psychiatrist after the incident that ‘she fantasised about going to the Alexander Stadium and killing all of the staff’.

This isn’t the first time something like that has happened, either. I blogged about another case of violence previously, as well as a case of a faked hate crime.

Police handcuff and arrest black pastor for preaching plain gospel message

Four white Canadian police officers arrest black pastor
Four white policemen arrest black pastor for preaching the gospel

I try to stay informed about countries that are more advanced on the path of secular leftism, such as Canada and Venezuela. Canada is about 10 years ahead of us down the path of secular leftism. They legalized same-sex marriage 10 years before we did. They started persecuting Christian businesses 10 years before we did. And now they’re arresting Christian pastors.

Consider this article from the Christian Post:

Pastor David Lynn of Christ Forgiveness Ministries was arrested on June 4, 2019 for preaching the Gospel publicly in Toronto, Canada.  The neighborhood he was preaching in was Church-Wellesley Village. This neighborhood is known to be a place where many of the LGBTQ community in Toronto reside. His ministry is currently on an outdoor preaching tour throughout the 22 districts of Toronto. June 4, happened to be the day they scheduled for that district.

It is not uncommon for someone to think “open-air preaching” and “LGBTQ neighborhood” and immediately jump to thoughts of preachers condemning homosexuals to hell. However, Pastor Lynn’s preaching was some of the most loving and gracious preaching I have ever seen and heard. Which is why it is outrageous that he was arrested.

You can even watch the whole video here:

More:

The entire time of preaching was livestreamed via Facebook and can be found on YouTube. Throughout the video, it is surprising to see the reaction of those who were listening to Lynn’s preaching. The more love he poured out, the more hate and resistance he received. As anyone can see if they view the video, Pastor Lynn was respectful and kind throughout all of his time preaching. As he shared the Gospel, he also made statements like “We are here to tell you that we hate nobody.” He emphasized God’s love again and again.

He proceeded to ask those protesting him if they would be willing to tolerate him as a Christian. But those listening were unwilling to dialogue, and many asked him to leave the street corner.

Throughout the encounter he was very calm and collected, not entering into any disrespectful or condemnatory dialogue.

Canada does have hate speech laws. However, there is no way that his preaching could be deemed as hate-speech. Lynn stated while preaching, “Everyone is accepted….and that is what we preach as Christians.”

This pastor was very careful to avoid singling out any particular group as “sinful”. Instead, he said that everyone is sinful, and everyone needs forgiveness for their sin. That is the standard Christian view.

More:

In order to not make anyone listening feel singled out, he said “Jesus died for the sinner…. Every heterosexual has sin. Every homosexual has sin. Sin is when we violate the laws of God….” He did not target any particular group of people or single out homosexuality.

He was assaulted by the people who disagreed with him, but the police didn’t arrest them – they arrested him:

Though he was very loving throughout the entire encounter, tensions escalated, and people began to form a mob of protest around him. As he tried to walk away from the most adamant protesters, they crowded in on him and would not let him move. All throughout the encounter, as he tried to walk away from them, they pressed in on him and blocked him. At times, they even pressed their bodies against him, which in technicality is assault.

When the police arrived, rather than dealing with those that were assaulting Pastor Lynn, the police blamed Lynn for creating a disturbance of peace. Even upon his request to deal with those who had assaulted him, the police would not listen to him.

You can clearly see that in Canada, the police don’t care about basic human rights. Those policemen have been taught secular leftism. They don’t know anything about “human rights”. They only know that to keep their jobs, they must do as the secular leftists in power tell them. The laws are not based on morality. The laws are based on the need for the secular leftist elites to be able to do what they need to do without anyone disagreeing with them. The police aren’t the guardians of the moral law, they’re just hired muscle there to enforce the will of the secular left.

Rights like free speech and religious liberty DO NOT EXIST in Canada. Christians and conservatives have a duty to pay taxes to their secular left overlords, but they don’t have a right to disagree with their secular left overlords. They don’t have a right to live their lives as Christians, and run their families as Christians. If they try to act like Christians, then they wind up in front of a Human Rights Commission, or a criminal court, or in a jail cell.

And there is no freedom of the press in Canada. If a Canadian tries to expose any of the abuses of human rights to the public, the courts will send the police to their door to arrest them. You see, they want to suppress the human rights of those who disagree with them, but they don’t want anyone to know about it. They want people to believe that Canada is as free as the United States, so they don’t want reports about their heavy-handed totalitarianism to get out to the rest of the world. This suppression of the truth by force has always been the standard operating procedure of the secular left – in every country where they have seized power.

If you don’t want this for America, then you have to vote against the secular left, and do your part to persuade others not to vote for them.

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