Romans 13 and Civil Disobedience

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Matthew Anslow | Thursday, 5 February 2015

This article was originally published by Ethos. It is a condensed version of more extensive article that has been published in Crucible.

For over a year I have been involved with the #LoveMakesAWay sit-ins and prayer vigils in the offices of prominent Government and Opposition MPs. These actions have been the responses of Christians from a variety of denominations to the cruel asylum seeker policies of the Australian government. They have been intentional acts of civil disobedience.

In response to our actions some Christians have expressed disagreement with our methods, often citing Romans 13:1–7 as rationale for doing so. A “plain reading” of this passage, which counsels readers to “submit to the governing authorities,” seems to yield a clear and straightforward command that implies the prohibition of civil disobedience.

What follows is a brief attempt to address the question of whether Romans 13 does in fact prohibit the possibility of faithful Christian nonviolent civil disobedience. Read more

“Let Your Light Shine”: Radicalism in The Sermon on the Mount

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Dave Andrews | Wednesday, 4 February 2015

In a much-cited article entitled “Resist not evil": Conservatism in The Sermon on the Mount, published in The Busy Signal, J.A. Meyerson states that

The main thrust of the Nazarene’s doctrine is: if you the poor are abused, exploited, stolen from, made to suffer or otherwise racked with injustice, grin and bear it. Those concerns are worldly, and you ought instead to be focused on heaven. This life, after all, doesn’t matter, and in the next one, you will be rewarded and your tormentors punished. So keep your head down, take your punches and deal with it! [1]

Meyerson says, "Christ begins his sermon by issuing the beatitudes, probably the most fertile grounds for leftist quotations, but with the least reason. 'Blessed,' Christ proclaims, 'are the poor in spirit,' 'they that mourn,' 'the meek,' 'they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness,' 'the merciful,' 'the pure in heart,' 'the peacemakers,' 'they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake' and 'ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.'" Then he says, "The blessings he heaps upon the poor are all very nice, but he does not end them by saying, 'and woe to those who have put you in this position; let’s topple their order and establish a more just society!' Instead he counsels, 'Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.' (Matthew 5:12) Cry me a river, folks; this is your lot in life. Trust that things are going to be better once you’ve died."

So Myerson sums up Jesus’ "thesis, expressed in the Sermon on The Mount", as essentially conservative and basically saying "workers of the world: suck it up."

I really enjoyed reading Meyerson’s article because of its energetic engagement with many of the things that I care about, and because of the substantive issues it raised. And I would like to at least try to make some comments about some of those issues. Read more