When: Tuesday September 19 12:15 PM – 1:00 PM
Where: Democracy Plaza, IUPUI campus breezeway adjacent to University Library
Everyone knows you can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater, but are there other limits to free speech? When does free expression cross the line into doing actual harm to others or excluding them from the political community? Come talk about the hard cases involving hatred, pornography, religious expression, and more.
Leading this discussion will be Art Farnsley, a founding member and executive director of the American Values Alliance, an Indiana-based, grass-roots group committed to civility, fair play, and honesty in the electoral process. His scholarly work illuminates the relationship between religious and political culture. Farnsley has written books on denominational politics in the Southern Baptist Convention, the role of congregations in welfare reform, and religion’s influence on the development of Indianapolis. His current research involves interviewing flea market vendors about their religious and political beliefs.
IndyBuzz featured an excellent speech by Art last year about free speech and American values.
For more information ... about free speech and p
rayer at public schools’ football games, check out Cathy Young’s “God Talk” (influenced by Jeffrey Rosen’s article, “Is nothing secular?”). James Weinstein has written a well-reviewed book called Hate Speech, Pornography, and the Radical Attack on Free Speech. American Civil Liberties president Nadine Strossen takes on feminists who wish to censor pornography in Defending Pornography: Free Speech, Sex, and the Fight for Women’s Rights. IU professor Jeff Isaac has been a passionate critic of attempts to restrict or criminalize hate speech. Check out his arguments with the group “Bloomington United”: www.bloomington.in.us/~bu/newsarticles.htm.If you are inspired by the Democracy Plaza discussion of these issues with Art Farnsley, you should check out the local group that Art directs: American Values Alliance. AVA is devoted to preserving civility and fair play in our passion-filled arguments about politics.
About the venue: Democracy Plaza at IUPUI is a large common area for expressing opinions and exchanging ideas in “an atmosphere of fair play,” according to the plaza’s posted guidelines, the space is surrounded by a wall on which faculty, staff, and students scribble questions, ideas, and responses in colorful chalk. Hundreds of people at a time have showed up for outdoor rallies, and more still join in the plaza’s ongoing political expression.
If you like this event ... you should attend Susan Erickson's conversation about academic free speech, and the discussion of the First Amendment and news media.
To return to the IndyBuzz schedule of My Daily Constitution events, click here.
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