The increasing attacks on freedom of speech in America are well-documented. Gov. Walz’s recent assertion against this constitutional right is unsurprising. This trend is part of the larger movement of the therapeutic-based ideology that has captured Western politics and education.

Carl Trueman in his important book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self writes,

In a world where the self is constructed psychologically and in which the therapeutic is the ethical ideal, we should therefore expect the notion of good and bad … to change accordingly. The notion of assault on the person becomes not simply—or even perhaps primarily—a matter that involves damage to the body or to property; it becomes psychological, something that damages the inner self or hinders that sense of psychological well-being that lies at the heart of the therapeutic. In such a context, freedom of speech becomes not so much part of the solution as part of the problem. (p326, emphasis added)

America is at a tipping point where cascading waves of students are thoroughly steeped in the culture of the therapeutic. This cannot be solved by a minor course-correction in civics education. It has become baked into the worldview of generations.

The church must prepare for increasing pressure to silence its moral voice. Elections can slow the assault, but only a radical transformation of American cultural and educational institutions can alter the trajectory.