Corona and Civil Disobedience

Fear of death, fear of virus and just like that, we give the government power over us. Power bordering on martial law; to lock us in our houses; close our schools, keep us from working. We whisper, “It could never happen here,” as the Mayor of New York says he will permanently close houses of worship if they don’t comply with social distancing. Or consider this headline from the New York Times, "Pandemic Tempts Leaders to Seize Sweeping Powers." Where’s the line? Do I make a stand? Corona’s got me thinking conscience.

Time to hammer out a rubric for acts of conscience. What actions require a response? Do I engage in civil disobedience? If so, when? The overarching biblical principal is that ‘every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities.’ In most issues I obey the law. I protest but I don’t break it. Yet there are distinct situations where I defy.

These are the summits I stand on, the hills I’ll die on. This past December Wang YI, head of one of China’s largest unregistered churches was sentenced to nine years in prison. The crime, in his words, “The goal of disobedience is not to change the world but to testify about another world…The Bible teaches us that, in all matters relating to the gospel and human conscience, we must obey God and not men. For this reason, spiritual disobedience and bodily suffering are both ways we testify to another eternal world and to another glorious King.” Men may make God illegal but there are higher laws. 

Every person is created in the image of God. This makes all humans valuable and gives value to those considered “less than valuable (including the unborn).” If a law encroaches on their life, liberty or pursuit of happiness it is a bad law. In such cases breaking the law to save another; or to make a point is a good thing. “An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.” 

These are the parameters which guide my steps. Your guidelines may end up different. To often we make determinations based on fear and feeling. This is a good season for thinking through what you believe. What’s my grid? We’re inside now. Is there a time to step out, step in, step up?