Civil disobedience has a lengthy record. Pharaoh ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill all Jewish males at birth, but they “did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them (Ex. 1:17) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused Nebuchadnezzar's command to bow to a gold idol. (Dan. 3) Daniel ignored King Darius' interdict and continued to pray three times each day. (Dan. 6) When the council banned preaching the Gospel in Christ’s name, Peter, answering for the apostles said, “We must obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29) Three major events exemplify civil disobedience in America. During the Revolution, citizens resisted government's encroachment on their God-given rights. In the WBTS, citizens, in order to preserve those rights, resisted government's usurpation of constitutional powers reserved to the states. The third event was the race riots of the 1960's, which raises several philosophical questions. When do citizens have the right and responsibility to disobey their government? What course of action should citizens take if government exceeds its authority? By what motive and on what grounds is civil disobedience justified?

As a student studying for a degree in political science, I discovered that social and political philosophies are influenced by their view of human nature. As a Christian, one must evaluate a philosophy by Biblical standards. This was the rule followed by our Founding Fathers and Confederate ancestors. They understood that Christians are citizens of both Heaven (Phil. 3:20) and the state on earth (Matt. 22:21), that God established government (Rom. 13:1) punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right (Pet. 2:14), and that Christians are to be subject to the government (I Pet. 2:13, Rom. 13:1) that fulfills this purpose. To resist tyranny and form governments, they adopted the ideas of Christian political philosophers. Richard Hooker (1554-1600), British legal philosopher and theologian, acknowledged God as the ultimate Source of law and rights. Beginning with Adam, God gave man freedom of choice and the responsibility that accompanies it. (Gen. 3, Rom. 14:12) To Moses He gave the law. (Ex. 20) Government is subject to the law and has no authority to violate rights. From his influence, the Declaration of Independence states that all men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights John Locke (1632-1704) was a prot of Hooker. He taught that laws must be made without contradiction to the positive law of Scripture, otherwise they are ill made. Government holds and exercises its powers in trust and officials authority is conditional. After all available means of recourse have been exhausted, citizens have the right and responsibility to withdraw their support of officials and/or government when that trust is violated by failing to secure the public good or honor God's laws. Because of Locke, the Declaration of Independence states that “governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Montesquieu (1689-1755), a French lawyer, influenced our Constitution's separation of powers and checks and balances. His views on government were based on Rom. 3:23 and Jer. 17:9: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt. In his farewell address, Washington spoke of the “necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power by dividing and distributing it into different depositories due to the love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart. William Blackstone (1723-80), British judge, law professor, and mentor of American jurisprudence, said civil law must not violate God's law revealed in nature and the Bible. From his influence, the Declaration of Independence refers to the laws of nature and of nature's God.

Unlike our Founding Fathers and Confederate ancestors, the fomenters of civil disobedience in the 1960's were influenced not by Christian philosophers, but rather by the 19th century secular humanist philosophy of Henry Thoreau. He advocated that each man follow his own standard of right and wrong. Consequently, a socialistic gospel of entitlement, using race as a catalyst, first erupted from predominantly Negro congregations and spilled into the streets. Anarchy for its own sake was fueled by savage, uncontrolled lust, anger, and rage. Thoreau's philosophy has spread into the 21st century and infected people of all races who ignore the advice of St. Peter, who said, Live as free men, yet without using your freedom as a pretext for evil (I Pet. 2:16) Within the context of our social and political system, before resorting to civil disobedience, Christians are to be the leaven (Matt. 13:3) and the salt and light (Matt 5:13-16) of the world. If more Christians really did this, civil disobedience would be unnecessary.

The Declaration of Independence grants, That whenever a form of government becomes destructive of these ends (God-given equality and unalienable rights), it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute new government. When civil disobedience becomes necessary, its effect will be conditional on the observance of several precautions. It must be the means of last resort. The source of action must be group consensus, not selfish reasons. The termination of unjust laws does not warrant the violation of just laws. Only those laws that are unjust by God's standard as revealed in Scripture are to be resisted. Resistance must be carried out in the positive spirit of obedience to God, not solely in the negative spirit of anger, rebellion, and arrogance. Finally, from the examples of Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Daniel, and the apostles, we must be prepared to make sacrifices. As a guard against foolish rashness, we must emulate the Founding Fathers and our Confederate ancestors and count the cost. (Lk. 14:28) Once the resolution for civil disobedience is made and the hand is put to the plow, there is no looking back. (Lk. 9:62)

Fr. Richard W. Rudd
Hughes Camp Chaplain