(ethereal music)
- Hi everyone.
I'm Vince Vitale.
I'm a philosopher and a Christian.
And I'm here at the University
of California, Berkeley
for a week of talks and dialogues
on the deepest questions
of life and of faith.
The free speech movement
originated here in Berkeley.
In fact, it centered right
here in Sproul Plaza.
And the students that led
that movement in 1964,
they didn't just want
the freedom to speak.
They wanted the freedom to be heard.
Not just the freedom to
say whatever you want
into thin air, but the
freedom to have a legitimate
opportunity to persuade
people who think differently.
And if that is the heartbeat
behind freedom of speech,
then it raises serious
questions about whether
freedom of speech continues today.
Sure, with social media more
people than ever are speaking.
But is anyone being heard?
Have we lost the ability to disagree well?
Have we lost the freedom to persuade?
Part of the problem is
that our post-truth society
have become fearful of truth.
We've become afraid of truth
because experience has taught us
that seriously pursuing truth leads
to disagreements.
And the fear is that
disagreements will start us
on a trajectory where
we devalue the people
we disagree with.
And then from there,
that leads to intolerance
and then to extremism
and then to violence,
and then ultimately, to terrorism.
And if that is the trajectory of truth,
then truth is an act of war.
And an act of war leaves
you with only two options.
Fight or flee.
Either you fight for truth
and become a terrorist
in the making, or you flee
from truth, altogether.
Either you use your
freedom of speech to shame
and destroy others, or
you don't use it at all.
Fight or flee.
That is the cultural ultimatum
that we are stuck in.
How did we get to this point?
Well, I think it's because you come to see
either truth as more important than love
or love as more important than truth.
If truth is greater than
love, then you fight.
Then the end goal of truth
justifies whatever means
necessary regardless of who
gets trampled in the process.
Alternatively, love is greater than truth.
Then you flee.
You flee from truth altogether
and you accept every belief
no matter how incoherent
because at least that's better
than winding up as someone
who's violent and
extremist and intolerant.
Fight or flee.
That's the cultural ultimatum
that we're stuck in.
Either love gets sacrificed
at the altar of truth
or truth gets sacrificed
at the altar of love.
And it's only getting
worse as the polarization
in our country increases
and we are left too far
from each other to talk to each other.
From this distance, all we
can do is shout at each other
or ignore each other.
Once again, fight or flee.
I think Christianity offers a better hope.
According to Christianity, God is love.
And, God is truth.
And therefore, truth is love.
On the one hand, Jesus disagreed with us.
His very coming was an act
of disagreement with us.
A statement that we required saving
because our lives had disagreed so badly
with what he intended for them.
And yet, his coming was also his very act
of extravagant love for us.
His willingness to suffer alongside us.
His willingness to join us in our shame.
His willingness to lay
down his life for us.
The cross of Jesus Christ,
the symbol of Christianity
is a symbol of the perfect
intersection of love and truth.
In Jesus' death, simultaneously,
you have the greatest
expression of God's disagreement with us
and the greatest expression
of God's love for us.
Jesus cut the link between
disagreement and devaluing.
Because his communication of
truth was one and the same
as his communication of love.
Love and truth, perfectly
united in a personal sacrifice.
How often is your
disagreement with someone
your very act of giving
your life for them?
Who do you disagree with passionately?
Who is your enemy?
Are you fighting them?
Are you fleeing from them?
Or are you making a
personal sacrifice for them?
What would it look like
to communicate truth
to those who you disagree
with passionately
through an act of radical
love and personal sacrifice?
That is the question that Jesus
figured out how to answer for all of us.
And I believe we will live in brokenness
until we figure out how
to answer that question for each other.
Only then will we have not
only have the freedom to speak
but also the freedom to be
heard and the possibility
of living in the unity of love and truth
that alone brings peace.
(musical tones)
