More than 40 prominent scholars, freedom advocates and policy experts have released a public statement denouncing the cancel culture and affirming the necessity of free speech and civil discourse.
The drafters hope “The Philadelphia Statement,” which already has nearly 7,000 signatures, will be the catalyst for a new, ideologically diverse movement in a culture where the “open exchange of ideas is universally respected.”
Warning “freedom of expression is in crisis,” it denounces “hate speech” labeling and other forms of “ideological blacklisting.”
Among the signatories of “The Philadelphia Statement” are Princeton professor Robert George; Ayaan Hirsi Ali of the Hoover Institution; Wilfred McClay of the University of Oklahoma; Rev. Charles Chaput, archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia; and Thomas Farr of the Religious Freedom Institute.
In a statement of support, the National Religious Broadcasters said that “open discourse — the debates, exchange of ideas, and arguments on which the health and flourishing of a democratic republic crucially depend — is increasingly rare.”
“Ideologues demonize opponents to block debates on important issues and to silence people with whom they disagree,” the NRB said.
“Is this the country we want? Surely not.”
The Philadephia Statement highlights the need for a public square in whic people “of many different faiths, philosophies, and persuasions can speak their minds and honor their deepest convictions without fear of punishment and retaliation.”
It also recognizes that free speech also does not include “defamation, obscenity, intimidation and threats, and incitement to violence.”
Another supporter, Richard Viguerie of Conservative HQ, noted “hate speech,” in the other hand, is difficult to define and “is often used by those wielding political, economic, or cultural power to silence dissenting voices,” the CHQ said.
Terms such as “offensive,” “wrong” and “harmful” also can be used to censor.
“These policies and regulations assume that we as citizens are unable to think for ourselves and to make independent judgments,” reads the statement. “Instead of teaching us to engage, they foster conformism (‘groupthink’) and train us to respond to intellectual challenges with one or another form of censorship.”
Social Media mobs. Cancel culture. Campus speech policing. These are all part of life in today’s America. Freedom of expression is in crisis. Truly open discourse—the debates, exchange of ideas, and arguments on which the health and flourishing of a democratic republic crucially depend—is increasingly rare. Ideologues demonize opponents to block debates on important issues and to silence people with whom they disagree.
We must ask ourselves: Is this the country we want? Surely not. We want—and to be true to ourselves we need—to be a nation in which we and our fellow citizens of many different faiths, philosophies, and persuasions can speak their minds and honor their deepest convictions without fear of punishment and retaliation.
It argues the liberty and happiness of Americans depend on a public culture of both freedom and civility.
Disagreements can be robust, even fierce, but people still must “treat each other as human beings.”
It quotes the observation of Frederick Douglass in 1960 that liberty “is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist.”
Today, companies “blacklist” employees for their beliefs and impose “hate-speech” policies that censor thought.
“Similarly, colleges and universities are imposing speech regulations to make students ‘safe,’ not from physical harm, but from challenges to campus orthodoxy.”
Why is America suddenly in the grip of a violent revolution – and why are so many public officials enabling it? The shocking answers are found in “CANCEL AMERICA: Under cover of racial grievance, an all-out Marxist cultural revolution explodes,” the newest issue of WND’s acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine. Available in both print and digital versions. Better yet, subscribe at a discounted rate!
