Christian leaders' stance on civil disobedience is dangerous

[Elmore Furth]

Philosophers have argued for centuries over whether it is ever justifiable to break the law in the service of a higher cause and Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox leaders are going too far when they declare they will break laws on abortion and same-sex marriage.

Let the sabotage and disruption of legal services begin! No quarters for the blasphemers and apostates!

Last week, a group of Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox leaders released a “declaration” reminding fellow believers that "Christianity has taught that civil disobedience is not only permitted, but sometimes required." Then, after a specious invocation of King, the 152 signers hurl this anathema at those who would enact laws protecting abortion or extending the rights of civil (not religious) marriage to same-sex couples:

"Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act; nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality. . . . We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's."

The impression left is that the legal environment in which churches must operate is reminiscent of the Roman Empire that threw Christians to the lions. Never mind that advocates of same-sex civil marriage and legal abortion have made significant concessions to believers or that religious groups have recourse to courts, which have aggressively protected the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the 1st Amendment. In 1993, Congress passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, exempting believers in some cases from having to comply with applicable laws.

This apocalyptic argument for lawbreaking is disingenuous, but it is also dangerous. Did the Roman Catholic bishops who signed the manifesto consider how their endorsement of lawbreaking in a higher cause might embolden the antiabortion terrorists they claim to condemn? Did they stop to think that, by reserving the right to resist laws they don't like, they forfeit the authority to intervene in the enactment of those laws, as they have done in the congressional debate over healthcare reform? They need to be reminded that this is a nation of laws, not of men -- even holy men.

[RKP5637]

1. Pack of assholes!!! The devil in disguise!!! n/t

[WCGreen]

6. They left the war thingy out....

[glinda]

2. Any references to the names of those you quote? And where did this happen? To

where was it released?

[RKP5637]

4. Here is an article in the LA Times I think the OP is referencing...

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-disobedience28-2009nov28,0,1407498.story

[pscot]

3. By extension

the same logic could be applied to polygamy, child marriage, suttee, the whole of Sharia.... The govenment can't really let them get away with this.

[Angry Dragon]

5. The catholic bishops have to leave the church then

for the catholic church has promoted killing of others that did not believe as they did for 2000 years.

[RKP5637]

7. And they need to give up their tax free status. It is ridiculous. I resent paying

taxes and they are tax free. I don't think I am alone at all in believing this... I also resent they are murderers throughout the centuries.

[Cobalt-60]

12. Seconded: If they want to play politics

Thay have to pay for politics.

[baldguy]

8. Why single out abortion?

What happened to war, the death penalty, poverty, injustices committed against immigrants, and social & economic inequality?

I guess they listen to God with only half an ear.

[RKP5637]

9. They have a selective God that they created on their behalf to do their bidding. n/t

[madrchsod]

11. "do unto others-a guide to striking back at the religious right"

http://www.elroy.net/ehr/dountoothers.html

[madrchsod]

10. after reading the entire la times article....

there reasoning fails to justify their objections. their conclusions fail to prove that what they object to will be solved by their "civil disobedience".

jesus did`t care who or what you were as long as .....there`s something in that golden rule these guys over look....

[Bluenorthwest]

13. In other news, the same Clergy said the child abuse

pay off checks would clear if held until Wednesday.

[sorrowspath]

14. The Roman Catholic

hierarchy couldn't muster any civil disobedience to respond to the holocaust--suddenly they've developed a conscience to oppose same-sex marriage.That's BS.

Same sex is ok with the Catholic Bishops as long as it happens in the church and the boys are young and don't tell their parents.

[amb123]

15. It's called the Manhattan Declaration

And it's a Declaration of War against the Separation of Church and State.

http://manhattandeclaration.org/

[sorrowspath]

16. DId their meeting go like this ?

"let's have a temporary alliance to exterminate the liberals then when they're gone,let's kill each other to the last child to see which really is the true church."

I thought each of them considers the other, the false religion created by the devil to deceive people.So now they're making alliance with organizations whom recently they called "of the devil" to fight liberals?

Thanks to the separation of church and state,these people would have been burning,hanging and drowning each other

[Igel]

17. Odd.

When I was a kid there were a lot of draft dodgers and draft resisters. Some went and burned draft cards to delay call up.

I could swear I've heard of anti-nuclear activists going and actually trespassing and dinging a nuclear weapon. Possibly one without a warhead, but it's still illegal.

I know the non-profit when I was in college staged protests, which pointedly included civil disobedience.

Let's not forget the sanctuary movement for illegal immigrants in the '90s.

These are things that are generally taken to be not so bad. If not actually good. Mostly because they serve the higher cause of "justice" instead of law.

Then there are the ELF and PETA folk, pushing the envelope to where you can wedge an elephant in it. Hackers. Whistle-blowers and leakers. And many, many other occurrences.

Lots of this is illegal. Sometimes people on the left might disagree with it. Sometimes they generally applaud it. Sometimes there's a deep split. Typically the less violent and destructive the act, the more likely it is to be applauded--provided the cause it serves is proper. There's little moralizing over it--just over its absence.

In grad school the chancellor instructed his staff to identify every student whose records said they were illegal immigrants--they used the term "undocumented worker" but they weren't workers--and then make sure that this "obviously false impression" was corrected. He announced that after a thorough search of the records no undocumented aliens were in attendance at UC.... After what he said actually was understood by the undergrads he was quietly applauded. He was circumventing the direct instruction of the regents acting in compliance with Prop 209, and nobody in student government (well, one person, not very well liked) objected. The moral calculus was straightforward and didn't make great reference to state law.

Actually, what the OP says is precisely what my church taught for decades. There's "Caesar" and there's God. If they both command something or deny something, no problem. If God allows one thing and Caesar forbids it, no problem; if Caesar allows something and God forbids it, no problem. The problem comes when God forbids and Caesar requires something, or when God requires and Caesar forbids something. Then you follow your conscience, whatever the consequence. And without the whining that the civil-disobedience-embracing members of my university's non-profit activist group displayed.

Oddly, it's precisely what motivated Martin Luther King and his civil disobedience. I guess this logic doesn't hold for the heathen scum neandertal mouth-breathing knuckledraggers, but only for the True Believers and those Pure of Heart who contemplate truth and justice daily and would never dehumanize their fellow (true) human beings.