A panel of professors encouraged students to be open and honest, explore all types of views and stand up to judgemental preaching during the Illiff School of Theology’s “Courageous Conversation: Stopping Hate Preachers” discussion last Tuesday.

It was the first in the school’s fall 2011 Courageous Conversations series.

“Courageous Conversations are an important part of the Diversities, Justice and Peace exploration and an ongoing offering of Illiff,” said M. Celeste Jackson, associate director of Diversities and Community Relations. “Community grows when critical issues are explored. Diversities at Illiff seeks to provide just such a forum; we hope to build bridges and promote tolerance and understanding across the DU community and beyond.”

Questions posed during the two-hour event covered a broad area that included the limits on individuals First Amendment rights to solutions regarding racial, gender and sex tensions.

In addition to input from the audience, four panel members discussed answers to the questions. The panel members included Jason Marsden, the executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation; Bill Moore, a pastor at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church in Thornton, Colo.; Mike Smith, a member of the American Civil Liberties Union and a subcommittee on the separation of church and state; and Daniel Vigil, the assistant dean of student affairs at the Sturm College of Law.

Discussion began with the prompt: How sacred is freedom of speech? Are there any limits?

“Certainly there are limits,” said Smith, responding quickly.

Nearly everyone at the discussion seemed to agree that there were limits, especially in the case of  Matthew Shepard, a gay teenager who had been tortured until death for his sexuality. Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) and other members of the WBC protested outside Shepard’s funeral, stirring a debate about free speech.

The case was brought to the United States Supreme Court. The court ruled with Phelps, upholding his First Amendment right to free speech. The Supreme Court also upheld the freedom of speech statute in the Texas v. Johnson case, in which Johnson had been convicted for publicly burning an American flag.

Another question the panel asked was: How do we combat hate preaching without limiting free speech? According to Vigil, it is possible but very difficult to use the law.

“Law in this area is convoluted, fact specific and technical,” he said. “I don’t know if law is the right vehicle to stop hate speech.”