The right to be offensive.

I want to write about the right to be offensive! We had Sachsgate, when Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand were (rightly) punished for obscene andhurtful phone-calls live on air. Now there is Jeremy “One Eyed” Clarkson and Carol “Look for the Golly” Thatcher, whose admittedly crass remarks were greeted with shrill protests and in Thatcher's case led to her dismissal. Most recently there was Bristol nurse who was suspended after simply offering to pray for the recovery of an elderly patient. It seems to be a crime in our caring sharing society to offend anyone.

So it is. The 1999 Macpherson report, into the 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence, introduced the concept of ‘unwitting racism’ - any incident could be legally defined as racist if it was seen as such by the victim ‘or any other person’. The context or intended meaning of what was said or done were irrelevant, all that mattered was that somebody somewhere felt racially offended or hurt, even if they were not involved. That concept found it's way into the statute books via laws against racially aggravated offences. (The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 and the Terrorism Act 2006) The notion that it is criminal, or should be, to offend someone seems to have wider currency.

Over against all this, Jesus said “The truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)

And that means we have the right to be offended - to be presented with a truth so contrary to our usual way of thinking, to our taste, to the way we perceive ourselves, that we find it offensive. The truth that jolts us and challenges us and makes us think again and really sets us free can often seem deeply offensive and yet we need to hear it. So it can be deeply dangerous to settle simply for the sanitised speech of government and official pronouncements, and outlaw what may be offensive simply because it offends. The racist, the fascist, the homophobe, need to be heard and then argued with in public.

It is right, for example, that Richard Dawkins can write (wrongly) that raising a child Catholic is worse than subjecting the child to physical abuse - and right that he should be confronted by atheists and believers alike who see this for the disgracecful smear it is. It is right for Christians to proclaim the gospel where ever they can without abusing the defenceless. If people find that offensive, let them howl! It is becoming much harder to tell the truth without being hounded and your job put in danger, much harder even to offer a prayer without that being seen as a threat. But we must persevere. The truth will set people free – but only when the truth can be heard. Where the gospel offends, Christians have a God-given duty to be offensive. Keep it up!!