Is free speech under threat?

As a survey suggests a quarter of young people would ban the Bible if it contained hate speech, and Christians are wrongfully arrested while street preaching, Heather Tomlinson investigates: Is our freedom of speech being eroded? 

Jesus didn’t have a right to freedom of speech. “I am,” he said to the Sanhedrin (Mark 14:62) and was promptly condemned for his words. In most times and places throughout human history, it has been extremely dangerous to publicly disagree with religious or political powers. Yet in Western countries over the past 500 years, an unusual principle has emerged: the right to freedom of speech, protected by law.