At censorship symposium, CatholicVote Vice President calls for ‘new rules of engagement’ in defense of truth

Speaking at the symposium on “Truth, Freedom of Speech, & Modern-day Censorship” Sept. 25, CatholicVote Vice President Joshua Mercer warned that conservatives risk “winning the argument but losing the culture” unless they change how they fight censorship and defend truth.

Mercer delivered his remarks by video to the Washington, D.C., gathering, which was co-sponsored by Subsidium-the International Catholic Jurists Forum Ralston College, the Ruth Institute, Ave Maria School of Law, and the Center for Family and Human Rights. 

The event drew scholars, lawyers, and advocates from across the country and came just weeks after the assassination of conservative leader Charlie Kirk.

Mercer, who co-founded CatholicVote in 2005, said Kirk’s assassination was “more than just the assassination of a political figure. It was also an attack of the very possibility of debate, of peaceful disagreement, of democracy itself.” 

He pointed to the recent controversy over Jimmy Kimmel’s brief suspension from his late-night show — which was later reversed — as an example of conservatives fracturing over how to handle opposition. While the left quickly rallied, Mercer said, conservatives divided over principle and strategy.

“We tear each other apart because we still don’t know how to engage our opponents. And in the end, I think nothing really ended up changing,” he said, asking “Why are conservatives still missing? Why do conservatives still keep losing?”

Surveying the cultural landscape, Mercer said conservatives have lost major battles on marriage, family, abortion, and education because they assume “facts can speak for themselves. They just don’t.” 

He added, “Normal people don’t say ‘facts don’t care about your feelings.’ With all my respect for Ben Shapiro, that’s because most people do care about feelings. God gave us reason and logic, yes, but He also gave us empathy and love.” 

In his speech that he co-wrote with Erika Ahern, Mercer outlined six “rules of engagement” he said conservatives, Christians, and Catholics must adopt to reclaim lost ground:

• Stop debating opponents who deny basic dignity

• Speak to both heart and head

• Use strong and accurate language

• Institutions and platforms matter more than norms

• “Audit your own house” by ensuring you have integrity and holiness

• Always be ready to pay the price for truth 

Elaborating on the importance of using precise and accurate language, Mercer gave several examples. 

“We don’t say ‘gender-affirming care’. We say surgical mutilation,” Mercer said. “We don’t say ‘pregnant persons’. We say mothers. We don’t say ‘ending a pregnancy’. We say killing a child. This isn’t cruelty. It’s speaking truth. It’s clarity. Naming evil doesn’t erase mercy — but mercy without clarity isn’t mercy at all.”

Mercer closed by warning that Kirk’s murder “demands more than just our mourning.” 

“It demands a reckoning,” he said. “Not just justice, but truth, not just anger, but strategy, not just arguments, but action. If we embrace these rules of engagement — truth married to strategy, principle married to courage — we won’t just mitigate. We’ll defend the vulnerable. We’ll restore moral clarity in our culture.”

“Because in the end,” Mercer concluded, “it’s about light and darkness, about truth and lies. It’s about Christ and the enemy.”