Kerby Anderson

Free speech is an essential foundation for a free society. Unfortunately, authoritarians in this country and around the world want to stop the free exchange of ideas and information. That is why an eclectic group signed the “Westminster Declaration.”

Among the signers are psychologist Jordan Peterson, British biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, former ACLU president and law professor Nadine Strossen, editor Julian Assange, journalist Matt Taibbi, and author and researcher Michael Shellenberger. I have quoted many of these people and even had some of them on my radio program, even though we would disagree about many of the topics we cover from a biblical perspective.

“Coming from the left, right, and center, we are united by our commitment to universal human rights and freedom of speech, and we are all deeply concerned about attempts to label protected speech as ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and other ill-defined terms.”

They warn that “government actors, social media companies, universities, and NGOs are increasingly working to monitor citizens and rob them of their voices. These large-scale coordinated efforts are sometimes referred to as the ‘Censorship-Industrial Complex.’”

This is an important document. We can see from history that attacks on free speech and limits on religious liberty often are precursors to attacks on other liberties. These thought leaders understand what is at stake and are calling for governments and tech companies to respect free speech and stop the censorship.

I think we should all applaud them for calling attention to this important issue.