Law Analysis Religious Freedom, Part 2: Lawyer Sounds Alarm About ‘Rise of Global Censorship’

Ryan Bangert, senior vice president at the religious freedom law firm Alliance Defending Freedom, breaks down a troubling phenomenon he calls the “rise of global censorship.”

“All across the world, we’re seeing government become ever more bold in attempting to directly censor the speech and the messages being communicated by citizens,” Bangert tells “The Daily Signal Podcast” in an interview recorded at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in February.

He mentions the case of Päivi Räsänen, a Christian member of Finland’s parliament who tweeted her objection to her church’s involvement in an LGBTQ parade. For that, prosecutors charged her for “hate speech.” Even though courts repeatedly clear Räsänen of the charges, prosecutors keep appealing the case to higher courts.

He also references Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, director of the U.K. March for Life, who got arrested in the United Kingdom for the crime of silently praying—in her head—outside an abortion clinic.

“That case is remarkable because she was punished not for what she said, but for what she thought,” Bangert notes. “So, she was standing silently on a sidewalk outside of an abortion clinic saying nothing, just in a prayerful posture, and she was approached by law enforcement officers who said, ‘What are you thinking?’ Literally, ‘What are you thinking? Are you praying in your mind?’”…

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