Vistas of Peace: Affirming Press Freedom

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God spoke, "Let there be..."[taken from Genesis 1]

And soon, there was a series of creation -- each one was unique, important, and beautiful. Through what was created, there was order -- from simple to complex. There was interdependence among all the creatures -- they needed each other in order to survive. There was also beauty -- for God saw that it was all very good. There was life -- for God breathed the breath of life! There was freedom -- to enjoy what was there. But there was also a sense of responsibility entrusted -- for there were some restrictions!

Every 3rd of May is World Press Freedom Day. It is a time to remember the important role that journalists (writers and broadcasters) play in defending the basic human right of freedom of expression and in using their profession to ensure people's freedom or liberation. There are many journalists all over the world who, for doing their call and duty, are subjected to threats to their own freedoms and lives.

Freedom of expression, however, should be tempered with responsibility. As the popular saying goes, one's freedom ends where the freedom of others begins. Our main criterion for asserting our freedoms is that it is for the sake of the vulnerable, struggling people, whose basic human rights to live decent lives have been curtailed or violated; and to restore the dignity and humanity of people and the integrity of creation.

World Press Freedom Day was declared by the United Nations in 1993 to promote freedom of expression and freedom of the press as a basic human right and to foster media independence and pluralism.

I believe that churches and religious communities have something to learn from the principles of independence and pluralism of expression. There is no independence in our thinking if our minds continue to be controlled by religious dogmas and traditions that were formulated long ago in specific times and contexts; or if we allow others, knowingly or unknowingly, with certain agenda, to control our thinking, what to think and how to think. In terms of pluralism, we need to affirm that while we Christians have one story of a man called Jesus who came to show us what it means to have life in its fullness, such a story has come down to us in various versions, appropriated according to the need of the time and situation. As our own experiences show, God comes to different people in different ways -- and we perceive those experiences with God also differently because of our various backgrounds and needs. We therefore need to be more open and welcoming of a variety of perspectives -- and to accept that just as God created the world in diversity, we people can also live in diversity but still affirm that we are all children of God.