Vice President JD Vance Gives Europe a Sorely Needed Wake-Up Call on Free Speech

We’ve told you that the UK has threatened to arrest Americans for their speech online, but the Trump Administration has been true to its word to protect U.S. citizens, as evidenced by Vice President JD Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference. He called out a room of European leaders for persecuting their citizens for their speech – something that the ACLJ fights to protect against every day.

While many expected the Vice President to speak on the crisis in Ukraine, America’s southern border, or the Middle East, Vance surprisingly took the leaders of Europe to task for their own countries’ actions: “I believe deeply that there is no security if you are afraid of the voices, the opinions, and the conscience that guide your very own people.” He mentioned the European Union’s threat to shut down social media during times of civil unrest; the German government’s raids on the homes of Germans who merely participated in anti-feminist speech online; and the criminal conviction of Rasmus Paludan for merely participating in a public Koran burning.

Perhaps most poignantly, Vance referenced the criminal prosecution and political persecution of Adam Smith-Connor, who has been sentenced for silently praying near an abortion clinic, a violation of the UK’s new “buffer zone” laws. Vance’s speech highlighted Scotland’s terrifying implementation of a more egregious version of the law which can prohibit praying in one’s own home. The issue is right at the intersection of the free-speech and pro-life spheres and it is near and dear to the ACLJ’s heart and the hearts of our supporters.

Our sister organization in Europe was encouraged by Vance’s speech. Grégor Puppinck, director of the ECLJ, said that the speech came as a welcome surprise: “Europeans who value free speech and the sanctity of life should be encouraged by the Vice President’s speech. This served as a wake-up call for conservative parties across Europe to be more courageous and proactive against this new trend against pro-life and Christian speech.” The ECLJ stated that Vance’s speech “align[ed] with the battles the ECLJ has been waging for several years.”

Indeed, the ECLJ has been on the front lines protecting Christians’, and everyones’, free speech in the EU and the UN. They have spoken out against the Koran-burning laws which are used to stifle any criticism of Islamic practices or governments. The ECLJ has demonstrated how these laws are also used as a cudgel to shut down public discourse on immigration or other policies. Perhaps most shocking, and relevant to Christians in Europe, the United States, and indeed the World over, even Christian missionaries are being restricted in their ability to spread the Gospel, and the ECLJ is working to protect those sacred rights of conscience and religious practice, while calling out the double-standard offered to Islam at the UN. Is this freedom discourse?

However, this problem is not unique to Europe. Vance’s speech recognized that, “sometimes the loudest voices for censorship have come not from within Europe, but from within my own country,” in reference to the Biden Administration’s bullying of social media companies to toe the line on acceptable viewpoints. Vance assured the audience that “just as the Biden administration seemed desperate to silence people for speaking their minds, so the Trump administration will do precisely the opposite.”

Of course, we know that this very censorship happens in the U.S. today. The ACLJ is dealing with out-of-control prosecutors citing street preachers for spreading the Gospeland defending pro-life activists from weaponized noise statutes. With plenty of examples like that, attempts to “fact-check” the Vice President’s claims have all fallen flat, as they rely on assurances from politicians and flimsy nit-picking to malign Vance’s claims as “misleading.” The architect of Scotland’s law rebutted Vance by explaining that prayers in homes would only be banned if they could be “seen or heard.” Social media would only be restricted in the EU “in extreme cases” says EU Commissioner Thierry Breton. These assurances from politicians would be comedic if they weren’t so chilling. But Americans well know that, even with constitutional guarantees of free speech, the government will often abuse its power to go after speech it disapproves of, just as the Biden DOJ utilized the FACE Act to go after pro-life advocates.

While it’s true that some speech may make us uncomfortable – freedom of speech is a double-edged sword – the laws being enacted across Europe venture far into the realm of censorship, into the realm of mandating political correctness and punishing speech that merely challenges the prevailing narrative of Europe’s ruling class. Puppinck said the speech served as “a wake-up call for conservative parties across Europe to be more courageous and proactive against this new trend against pro-life and Christian speech.” This trend indeed should concern every defender of democracy, here at home and abroad. And Vance’s words cautioned of the strain on trans-Atlantic relations if Europe continues this trend. “How will you even begin to think through the kinds of [defense] budgeting questions if we don't know what it is that we are defending in the first place?” Vance added.

The ACLJ stands with those who need speech protections, like federal government whistleblowers and pro-life defenders subject to prosecution, and so we stand with JD Vance as a breath of fresh air. Europe and, unfortunately, the U.S. are in dire need of pro-freedom leaders. As Vance said in Munich: “Democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters.”