BBC Radio 4 2016-06-01

BBC Radio 4 2016-06-01

Jesus Christ Himself would be banned from speaking at today’s universities – if they took literally Home Office anti-terrorist guidelines, aimed at preventing radicalisation by silencing even non-violent extremists. So said Oxford professor Timothy Garton Ash, speaking on free speech and his book of that name, at this week’s Hay Festival.

Freedom of expression versus protection from extremist ideas... which might incite to violence. A difficult balance, and one we are almost bound to disagree on.

The impulse for politically correct restraint springs from tolerance and sensitivity. My first lesson in it came at an early age, when my father spotted in my satchel a note from a school friend referring to someone as “illegitimate.” He gently explained the unkindness of the term, not least because a much-loved relative was born out of wedlock. Fashions change, and I was unceremoniously cut clean out of a radio discussion for attempting to explain the Latin word for black. Contrary to expectations, we enjoyed the BBC’s Midsummer Night’s Dream on Monday night, despite extensive cuts including Helena’s assertion that she would gladly die for love, now considered an inappropriate sentiment for teenage girls to hear.

And yet, and yet... We all know the cry for freedom of speech attributed to Voltaire: defending to the death my right to hear something I don’t want to hear. I was brought up in Cambridge, our dining table full of students often arguing with one another almost for the sheer academic fun of it. The first time I lived outside a university city, I was surprised to find friends struggling with debate and often assuming intellectual dissent must lead to personal divergence too. To be honest, this still puzzles me. Some years ago a local MP and I were asked to debate in the Oxford Union against two controversial speakers, David Irving and Nick Griffin. I didn’t for a moment expect to agree with either, but was keen to learn how each had arrived at his views. Alas, the riots of protest outside sabotaged all meaningful debate, also imprisoning us in the building until the early hours... ironically, yards from statues of Cranmer, Latimer and Ridley, all burnt to death for their words.

Censorship of such heroes is not new, including in the name of religion. Jesus might not be welcome on campus, but nor was He in His home town’s synagogue or indeed elsewhere, mainly because of His none-too-subtle claims to divinity for which He was eventually killed.

When they tried to silence His followers, a Pharisee called Gamaliel persuaded the authorities it wasn’t worth suppressing this fledgling faith – with, to my mind, the last word on censorship. Either these ideas, he said, will prove a flash in the pan, like so many others, and die out of their own accord.

Or this movement is from God. In which case no power on earth, no threats of torture or martyrdom, burnings or persecution or execution, will ever put a stop to it.