I watched the new episode of True Blood last night – can I just say how much I love Sookie’s (Anna Paquin ) character- such a determined one. There were some hilarious lines in this episode. Jessica’s (the newest vampire) quote was the best: “This is so embarrassing. I’d die if i wasn’t already dead..” HA HA! After True Blood, a documentary came on: Shouting Fire: Stories From The Edge of Free Speech. Powerful. I knew a little about McCarthy’s red scare in the 50′s, but it was quite an unpleasant surprise to see how far back the issue goes and how we’re not even near the point to exercise our right to free speech. And after 9/11, forget about it.

There was one story that struck a cord with me: a young man boy at a California high school decided he wanted to make a statement with a tee shirt. He took some masking tape and wrote with marker – it read: ‘Homosexuality is shameful.’  His fire comes from 1 Corinthians 6: 9 – 11. I am all too familiar with this scripture:

6:9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
6:10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

Try working your way around that list; looks like we’re all going to hell in a handbasket. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wish to take away this student’s right to free speech by any means, in fact, I encourage it. It’s the daily struggle we face: to say what we feel – when we feel -  and not be punished. It is our freedom to choose what issues we’re going to take a stand on, but we’re still responsible for the message.  Not one of the students at the high school complained about the tee shirt, but the faculty thought it was disrupting the education – I have to agree on that one. But that was a great opportunity for the teacher to stop and talk about it- asking the class for input: ‘what do they think and feel about this student’s message?’ But rather than adding a bit more thoughtfulness to our freedom to speak, we resort to absolute panic when we’re faced with challenging social issues. Think and communicate, even when it hurts.

Read more on the Documentary here…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQiQXXy48EA