We read and hear much noise about free speech these days in the US. Some people think they have a “right” to say whatever they feel like no matter the consequences or hurt caused.
The men who wrote the free speech amendment into the US Constitution were concerned not only with limiting the government’s ability to curtail speech. Reading their correspondence, we find that they were also concerned with responsible speech. They expected a discourse among people who had thought out ideas and spoke responsibly among the population.
OK, they were idealists of the “Age of Reason.”
However, this echoes what we find in the letter of James, the Apostle and brother of Jesus. He called the tongue “restless evil, full of deadly poison.”
While we exercise our right to free speech, we must be mindful of what we say lest we spread evil and deadly poison setting forests of emotions ablaze to no worthwhile end.
Not everything that is thought needs to be said.
Faith Venture 
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