Tax Day and the Limits of Civil Disobedience; In Which, I Disagree With Francis Schaeffer

Today is Tax Day, and all across the country a strange phenomenon is taking place: conservatives are having protest rallies.

The protest march is typically regarded as something that liberals (even socialists) do, with the technique honed during the 1960s of showing up in ragged army fatigues, flowers, and face paint. Preferably, you had a good supply of herbal substances, as well. This time, the media is watching, bemused, as people take to the streets with signs that say things like "No More Taxes!" and "Bailouts Are for Bozos!", wearing business suits and looking pretty normal. Nobody appears to be stoned, but they are talking about Tea a lot. As in, Tea Party, as in, Boston Tea Party. They are clear this isn't an anti-Obama protest, necessarily, it's an anti-establishment protest. I think it's all kind of funny that the people who protested the establishment in the 60s and 70s are now the establishment getting protested against. Civil Disobedience: Not Just For Hippies Anymore!

All of this is amusing to watch, but does it have any implications for Christians? Francis Schaeffer thought it did; he thought that after Christians had exhausted their options to change their government through legal channels or to flee, they had the option (even the duty) to engage in civil disobedience to a wicked government. For him, one example of this might have been refusing to pay taxes if the government subsidized abortions. Of course, we are in this very position now; the government does in fact use tax money to subsidize abortions and any number of other godless things.

So am I going to send out a rallying cry to you all to stop paying your taxes? Am I going to suggest you hold your own Tea Party and tell Washington where to get off?

Why, no, I'm going to tell you to pay your taxes, fear God, and honor the king. I'm telling you this because this is what Paul told Christians in the New Testament, back when the government they were dealing with was ancient Rome. If Christians weren't justified in refusing to pay taxes to Rome, which used tax money to fund genocides, the hunting and public execution of Christians, and the building of pagan temples, then we are not justified in refusing to pay taxes to our government. If they were supposed to honor not only Ceaser but their corrupt local officials, we can't not honor the king.

Now down to brass tacks: does honoring the king mean agreeing with everything he does, or pretending he is wise when he's a fool? No, of course not; but it does mean that you can't make fun of his ears or his accent in place of critiquing his policy. Does the fact that we have to pay our taxes mean that we should never engage in other forms of civil disobedience? No, of course not; but the forms we may engage in are pretty clearly deliniated.

We are allowed to 1) Refuse to obey laws that require us to break God's laws. For example, laws requiring us to worship idols (like in the book of Daniel), or laws requiring us to cease from preaching the Gospel (like in the book of Acts), or laws requiring us to break any of the other Commandments. 2) Get persecuted and martyred for refusing to obey wicked laws. 3) Preach the Gospel.

That's about it.

I see nothing in Scripture that says protest marches and writing to your congressman are wrong, but the idea that they are the primary ways to change society is founded in democratic thinking, not theology. The way Christianity brought down Rome, after all, was not by holding rallies and convincing the government to accept it. The Roman government only accepted Christianity after it became apparent that it was an unstoppable force, moving from individual to individual, and that people would rather die than give it up.

Perhaps, instead of getting hung up on the democratic process and whether or not America is or ever was "a Christian nation", we should just be working on whether or not our neighbors are Christians. The best form of civil disobedience might be a sort of divine fifth column work--if the people are mostly Christians, what else can the government do but bow?

So in honor of Tax Day, why not pay your taxes, fear God, honor the king, and make it a point to talk to someone (over a cup of tea) about the Lord today?

Cheers,

Breanna