Dennis Prager on the 'most important freedom' and why its erosion is a 'guaranteed road to tyranny'
ORLANDO, Fla. — Dennis Prager firmly believes the single most important freedom is free speech — and the willingness of Americans to suppress this fundamental right for various agendas is the “saddest development” of his life.
“The most important freedom, in my opinion, and not everyone will agree, is free speech,” the 75-year-old talk show host and author told The Christian Post during an interview at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention.
“If I don't have free speech, I'm an animal. I adore religious freedom, but religious freedom without free speech, what does it mean? In the Soviet Union, you can go to church, but you have no freedom to espouse what you believe. Free speech is the number one freedom, and any suppression of it is a guaranteed road to tyranny. Most people don't give a damn about that.”
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“The willingness of half of the American people to suppress speech, in the name of health, in the name of the environment, in the name of some progressive other cause, is the saddest development of my long life,” he added. “I had more faith in the American people five years ago than I do today. Without free speech, it is not possible to arrive at the truth. And the root of all evil is lies. If truth is the antidote, then the truth will set you free.”
It’s this passion for exposing the truth that motivates Prager to speak out — often controversially — about hot-button issues in an age characterized by rapid change and polarizing ideologies.
Prager, who has hosted “The Dennis Prager Show” on the conservative Christian radio syndicate Salem since 1999, helms PragerU, which seeks to “promote American values through the creative use of educational videos that reach millions of people online.”
With titles like “Are We Living on Stolen Land?” “Why Socialism Never Works” and “How Legacy Media Lied and Misinformed Us for Decades,” PragerU has over 3 million subscribers on YouTube, and its videos have over 1 billion views. The PragerForce, over 6,500 high school and college student “young patriot” promoters, host on-campus meetings and gather at annual conventions to combat the “woke mob infiltrating our schools and workplace.”
The goal, Prager told CP, is to instill in young people “courage” and help them to think critically about political correctness and the state of free speech in America.
“PragerU wants to influence people to be courageous to pursue truth, to understand that Judeo-Christian values are the finest value system ever made, along with the American value system of liberty, E pluribus unum, and In God We Trust. The American Trinity, as I call it, is the greatest route to a good society,” he said.
“It’s why we’ve influenced so many; we have a better way for you to lead your life. You will be happier and finer. The two most important things — happiness and goodness. We have we have a recipe.”
While he’s largely “disappointed” in Americans, Prager stressed, “that doesn't mean I don't have hope.”
“Half of the American people get it. The problem with the half that gets it is that they don't fight. Most people don't fight because it takes courage to fight. And courage is rarer than the Stanley Cup. It’s a very rare trait in the human condition, tragically,” he said.
“The road to courage is not actually complex,” Prager added. “You're courageous if you want to be courageous. All it takes is a decision, ‘I will be courageous.’ If you believe in God and you're not courageous, I don't understand what your belief in God does for you. You're supposed to fear God and not The New York Times. It's an honest puzzle to me.”
Prager, who is Jewish, expressed concerns over perceived complacency within the Western church and its leadership. He said the lack of courage among Christian and Jewish communities was magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic when churches and synagogues across the United States were forced to shut down.
“Does faith really change people? It does, some. But when I saw churches and synagogues like sheep closed down because the government said so, I realized faith doesn't make that much difference in those people's lives, sadly,” he said.
Religious values and symbols are treated with contempt, he lamented, and the religious community largely remains silent. He cited an instance where the Los Angeles Dodgers allowed a blasphemous drag troupe to perform at the team’s LGBT pride event in June with little backlash from the faith community.
“Every single pastor, priest and rabbi in Los Angeles should tell people not to go to Dodger games, he said. “It's very simple. You're not going to be arrested by the Gestapo. You're not going to be arrested by the KGB. They are allowing men dressed as nuns in an absurd way, completely disrespectful, and contemptuous of the Catholic nun. I'm Jewish. But what difference does it make? Do I have to wait till they mock rabbis in order to get incensed? How many priests, ministers and rabbis in Los Angeles will say, ‘Don't go to a Dodger game?’ The answer is in single digits.
“So, if you don't fight, don't complain when it’s lost.”
Some of the biggest issues facing society, according to Prager, are the increasing disappearance of traditional family values and the nuclear family structure. Biblical values, he said, are what contribute to the flourishing of society.
“It's beyond belief that the finest institution for the rearing of the next generation is now an option, and not even a desirable option for many people, “he said. “This is why I believe so profoundly in the Bible: ‘Therefore, a man shall leave his mother and father and cling unto his wife and they shall be as one flesh.’ We have had the nuclear family: mother, father, children, as the basis of society for thousands of years. There is nothing better.”
“That doesn't mean I'm anti-single parents. It doesn't mean I'm anti even same-sex parents. I'm not for same-sex marriage, but there are same-sex parents; they exist. I have to deal with reality, but I'm not going to deny the ideal. The ideal is man, woman married, children.”
Prager also delved into the current narrative surrounding Western civilization, especially the disdain it often faces in academic settings. He presented a straightforward challenge to the critics: "What's been better? What gave more liberty to more people, more economic opportunity, and more freedom than the West?"
For Prager, the crux of the matter lies in evaluating civilizations based on their tangible achievements rather than abstract notions. He critiqued the idealism seen in John Lennon's song "Imagine," emphasizing that while envisioning a perfect world is poetic, it's not necessarily pragmatic.
"Don't imagine. Tell me what has done better than the West?" he challenged.
Prager said he feels called to encourage young people to return to foundational values — and the onus is on them to question, understand, and eventually, adopt what's genuinely beneficial. Only time will tell, he said, how these calls will resonate with the next generation.
“There's always hope. But I don't I don't live on hope. I live on work,” Prager said. “This is what I have to do. Do I think it'll work? I don't know. The guys who stormed Normandy Beach, did they all think they’d live? You do what you have to do. If God doesn't want me to save Western civilization, I'm believing in the wrong god.”
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
