Franklin Graham Can’t Handle Prince Harry’s Criticism of the First Amendment – Friendly Atheist – Patheos

During an interview on actor Dax Shepherds podcast Armchair Expert, Prince Harry criticized what he believed was a First Amendment that permits just about anything to slide. He said you can find a loophole in anything. You can capitalize or exploit whats not said rather than uphold what is said.

Hes not wrong about those loopholes. The First Amendment allows propagandists, conspiracy theorists, and flat out provocateurs to say horrible things under the umbrella of freedom. But protecting unpopular speech, for all its problems, is well worth defending. A lot of the controversy these days isnt about the right to speak, but whether anyone should face any sort of consequences for their speech. (Getting banned on Twitter for expressing hate speech isnt a First Amendment issue, by the way.)

But when someone from another country dares to criticize America in any way especially when that person is from the Royal Family you can bet conservatives are going to lash out. (The same people hated when President Obama pointed out our countrys flaws, too.)

For what its worth, Prince Harry admitted the First Amendment controversies are a huge subject and one which I dont understand because Ive only been here a short time, but that didnt stop his critics from unleashing their fury.

That includes evangelist Franklin Graham, who took Harrys remarks as some sort of personal attack:

My ancestors were among those who came to this country to gain these freedoms. I am so thankful that I have the freedom to worship without government interference, and I thank God that the founders of our Constitution gave us this protection. Maybe Prince Harry could take some time while he is in this country to study our history, and I think he will come to appreciate that the First Amendment is part of what makes America great and one of the main reasons people have left everything to come here throughout history.

Its ironic to hear all that from Graham, given that the Republican Party he supports wants to suppress speech they dont like, like educating students about our nations racist history in school. (Other nations, by the way, also have free speech.)

In any case, Graham is exaggerating what Harry said, and its extremely condescending to suggest that Harry needs to educate himself on the matter when the GOP (and conservative Christians specifically) are in the business of ignoring history when it suits their political needs.

(Image via Shutterstock)

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Franklin Graham Can't Handle Prince Harry's Criticism of the First Amendment - Friendly Atheist - Patheos