The Point: Diverse Discourse and the Christian Worldview
Breakpoint
Colson Center
4.8 • 3.1K Ratings
🗓️ 2 March 2022
⏱️ 1 minutes
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Summary
Free speech is very much at risk on college campuses.
According to one study, some 66% of students say that "it is acceptable to shout down a speaker to prevent them from speaking on campus." And, over 80% of students report self-censoring their own viewpoints out of fear of saying the wrong thing.
But as the Atlantic's Jennifer Miller reports, a new, grassroots movement of civil-dialogue clubs is offering a strong response in support of free speech. One such organization is Bridge USA.
As one of their student leaders put it, "Not being able to speak openly [is] I think, one of the main problems. I just wanted to create this community where anyone could feel like they could express their ideas and actually be heard."
This is a particularly worthy aim for a student, and for Christians, who should never be afraid to bring their best ideas to the table. Christianity, after all, is the best explanation for reality there is. Thus, we don't need other people to "self-censor" their opinions around us. We extend an invitation to all to join us in exploring truth in love, an invite God extends to us.
And, when we do, it can be a tremendous witness in an age of stifled public discourse.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | There's not always free speech on college campuses. |
| 0:02.6 | For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street with the point. |
| 0:05.1 | According to one study, 66% of college students say it's acceptable to shout down a speaker to prevent them from speaking on campus. |
| 0:12.6 | Over 80% of students report self-censuring their own viewpoints out of fear of saying the wrong thing. |
| 0:18.9 | But as the Atlantic's Jennifer Miller reports, a grassroots |
| 0:21.7 | movement as civil dialogue clubs are now showing that not all is lost. One such organization's called |
| 0:27.3 | Bridge USA. One student leader put it this way. Not being able to speak openly is, I think, |
| 0:33.1 | one of the main problems. I just wanted to create this community where anyone could feel like |
| 0:37.2 | they could |
| 0:37.5 | express their ideas and be heard. That's a particularly worthy aim for Christians who should not |
| 0:43.2 | be afraid of bringing their best ideas to the table. Christianity, after all, is the best |
| 0:47.6 | explanation of reality there is. We don't need other people to self-censor their opinions around |
| 0:53.1 | us. We can extend an invitation of truth and love, just as God extends to us. |
| 0:58.7 | It'll be a tremendous witness in an age of stifled public discourse. |
| 1:03.5 | For the Colson Center, I'm John Stone Street. |
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