At the end of the eighteenth century, a small collective formed to oppose british rule among 13 colonies in North America. They forged a document in which they expressed their distress and outlined the reason to which they had to fight the reigning monarch.

Among those who fought against the armies that were dispatched stood a man named George Washington. His mother told him to stop fighting, effectively saying that he should shut-up and behave. He, along with many of his compatriots, refused to allow familial allegences prevent him from following his own beliefs. They refused to betray theirselves even if it meant causing disharmony with their families. Many of them even lost their families, and more.

Today, we have a much different kind of battle. Christians routinely attempt to censor the speech of their nonchristian relatives. For instance, I have two sisters. Both of them continually suggest that any speech which does not fully uphold their beliefs must not be spoken in their presence, nor in the presence of their children or friends.

To this point, they persecute me endlessly. They say that I am hurting my relationships with my family by not being quiet and at least acting like I support their religion. They tell me to "respect" their beliefs by pretending to agree with them, or at the very least by not stating facts regarding them. Even quoting their own holy book is regarded as a violation, since it is unlikely that I will quote passages that say what they say their holy book says.

Before Constantine converted the empire to Pauline Christianity and began his crusades, new ideas and thought was freely expressed throughout Rome. Since then, censorship and Christianity have walked hand in hand. Christianity has always found opposition to be intolerable, and remains so to this day.

The gnostic philosopher Clement of Alexandra said it best. "But the multitude are frightened at the Hellenic philosophy, as children are at masks, being afraid lest it lead them astray. But if the faith (for I cannot call it knowledge) which they possess be such as to be dissolved by plausible speech, let it be by all means dissolved, and let them confess that they will not retain the truth."

I will not be silenced.