Censorship

Pray…that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored (2 Thessalonians 3:1).

For the past few devotions, I’ve been talking about appropriate reading material for Christians. I cannot leave the subject without a few minutes devoted to censorship.

I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil (Romans 16:19). With these words, Paul gives us a practical guideline to shape our reading. We should not read anything that glamorizes evil. Depicting evil behavior as fun and free of consequences only encourages people to sin.

At the same time, we must be free to read what others think. You need to know what the candidates believe in order to choose the best person for political office. You need to know what the school is teaching in order to protect your children from any curriculum that contradicts the Bible. You need to know what non-Christians believe, so that you can be a more effective witness for Christ when speaking to them of the faith. This is one reason why Christians oppose censorship.

Are there books that are evil and should not be read? Of course. Much that is written serves no purpose except to make excuses for evil or try to entice us into approving sinful behavior. But when books are banned, who is given the decision-making power? At one time or another, all of the following books have been banned somewhere in America: Tom Sawyer, Gone with the Wind, Lord of the Flies, The Grapes of Wrath, From Here to Eternity, Of Mice and Men, Silas Marner. Yet many Americans treasure these books for the look they provide at society and the human condition.

Depending on who is in charge, censorship can limit the spread of ideas that some feel are dangerous. Before the birth of Christ, the Emperor of China burned almost every writing of Confucius, because Confucian scholars opposed his rule. In the Middle Ages, Galileo’s book on astronomy was banned for suggesting that Earth was not the center of creation. 200 years ago, Thomas Paine’s The Rights of Man was prohibited because it claimed that all men have equal civil rights. And unbelievers have been burning Bibles from the days of the early Roman persecutions right up to modern times. This is the other reason why Christians oppose censorship; it is not that we approve of smut and falsehood being published, but because we want God’s holy word to be available to everyone without hindrance from those who oppose His teachings.