The government is cracking down on indecency over the airwaves by drastically increasing the fines for violators. For one of the few times in my life, I find myself agreeing with a few liberal democrats and the ACLU – I think this will turn into a sharp attack on free speech and I am worried.
Understand that I am not for broadcasting indecency. I just don’t want the government to be the one deciding what or what is not indecent. (See my Feb 26 and Feb 28 posts on legislating morality.) The problem is that, without a specific moral standard to be the guide, how are they supposed to decide what is right and wrong? We know they can’t use a deity to guide them, (separation of church and state and all) so they are left at the whim of whatever or whoever has influence over them. The FCC guidlines for what constitutes obscene material are so abstract and malleable that conceivably anything could be twisted to fit. This is going to be a problem.
I believe the standard for morality in the universe is the God of the Bible. However, I never want to force God’s moral code onto the rest of the nation through legislation. Rather, I will simply try to convince everyone through words that the one true God of the universe doesn’t like certain things. Attempting the former option would lead us closer to totalitarianism. The latter, if people believe me, will set them free.