When we police speech

Americans do not have any idea how lucky they are to live in a land where freedom of speech is enshrined in the Constitution. More than that, they should resist every “soft” effort to make speech out of bounds on the grounds that it can hurt someone’s feelings. Absent this constant vigilance to protect our rights to express our opinions, we may find ourselves in this situation:

A teenager is facing prosecution for using the word “cult” to describe the Church of Scientology.

The unnamed 15-year-old was served the summons by City of London police when he took part in a peaceful demonstration opposite the London headquarters of the controversial religion.

Officers confiscated a placard with the word “cult” on it from the youth, who is under 18, and a case file has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service.

A date has not yet been set for him to appear in court.

The decision to issue the summons has angered human rights activists and support groups for the victims of cults.

The incident happened during a protest against the Church of Scientology on May 10. Demonstrators from the anti-Scientology group, Anonymous, who were outside the church’s £23m headquarters near St Paul’s cathedral, were banned by police from describing Scientology as a cult by police because it was “abusive and insulting”.

If you read the article, you’ll discover that the whole debate revolves around the truth of the matter asserted: is Scientology a cult or not? That topic might, of course, be the subject of a private lawsuit brought by the Scientologists. In modern England, though, it is the subject of a criminal action against an individual for expressing his opinion. It doesn’t seem to occur to the Brits that there might be a speech right here. Although we trace our reverence for free speech to the British system, it’s a concept they’ve apparently abandoned entirely.