Stripping speech of all meaning
The other day I saw an interesting post on The Friendly Atheist about A.M, a student who was asked to remove a Bible quote from her middle school graduation speech. The post itself and the discussion that followed in the comments got me thinking about the rights of the speaker and the rights of those “coerced” into listening to her speak.
Normally I come down on the side of keeping all things religious in nature out of the public square. I am a Christian who is proud of America’s secular heritage. In my opinion, our great country was founded on the principle of freedom from religion. As a matter of fact, that is one of two reasons I read The Friendly Atheist in the first place. I share a common goal with the writers and readers there – keeping religion from being forced on anyone. ( The other reason I read is that I also share a common interest in debunking pseudo-science – creation “science” and intelligent design, e.g. – and in the tendency many religious people have to distrust science. )
But my first reaction to this is that a student should be able to share from her heart what inspires her. She’s earned that. The problem, of course, is that she has a captive audience who “must” listen to her, and that this is all done during an official school function which might give the impression that the school endorses her words.
To help myself think through it, I imagined what it might be like if someone said something during a speech that I thought was strongly non-religious in nature, or something religious but not Christian. Since I’ve been to dozens of graduation ceremonies, I didn’t really have to imagine. I’ve heard all sorts of students say all sorts of things, and I’ve not come away thinking that the school endorsed it all.
My son graduated from a Christian high school and earned the right to speak at his graduation. It was an inspiring speech and the speech his classmates expected him to give. He made reference to God and ended his speech with a quote from the excellent film Of Gods and Men, but there were those who thought his speech wasn’t “Christian enough.” ( as if it were his job to preach )
So, I thought about how Christians might have reacted if he removed the parts about God and gave the rest of the speech at a public school. There would be parents and students no doubt, who would have disagreed with the sentiment of his speech, which was essentially “life is special because it ends” – an idea that, to my dismay, many religious people find offensive.
A commenter pointed out a similar counter example …
Work hard and make the most of your life, because it’s all you’ve got. There’s no heaven above, nor hell below. In the end, we’re all worm food.
If you ask me, a student should be allowed to say just that, which reinforces my opinion that A.M. should have been allowed to share her verse. If she can’t share something because it’s religious in nature, can she be permitted to say anything that might be anti-religious in nature?
Another commenter asked what it might be like if someone wanted to quote from the Koran. I wouldn’t have a problem with that in the same way I don’t have a problem with what A.M. wanted to do, but it does raise an interesting possibility. Should we draw the line at quotations in speeches?
Perhaps, but where will that end? My son quoted from four sources during his speech. One was from Bilbo’s birthday speech and was simply for laughs. The other three, however, make a statement. One was Yoda’s most famous quip. Another was a quote from the writer of Fight Club, and the other was the quote I mentioned from Of Gods and Men. While only one was “religious,” the other two certainly have meaning that some might call ideological.
I’m just afraid there is no way to censor student speeches without stripping them of all meaning.
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