Bible Question:
In response to the "under God" controversy, Christians who object to the recent challenge to the Pledge of Allegiance might want to consider the question, What Would Jesus Do? Scripture (e.g. Romans 13) informs that all authority is ordained by God and that believers are to submit to civil authority as part of their submission to God. In the US, that civil authority ultimately is the Constitution, which precludes the establishment any official state religion. There are good reasons for this, not the least of which is the brutal persecution of independent groups of believers by powerful sectarian state churches. The Pledge is not law and therefore has no authority under the Constitution, yet it remains a nationwide daily ritual in public schools, imposed through the force of tradition. Of course, children and teachers can opt to remain silent during the Pledge, but such civil disobedience, with its associated personal costs, clearly should not be the expected norm for any student or teacher at any public school. Furthermore, for anyone in public schools to be required to recite an oath of allegience to "one nation under god" is to require them to swear an oath to that god, or at least to acknowledge that god. Consider how would you feel if the pledge were to say "one nation under Allah" or "one nation under Buddha" or "one nation under Cosmic Consciousness"? How can we be so sure that the pledge is not simply religious indoctrination imposed by the might of the majority? Is this how God operates in our lives? As Christians, are we not called to embrace the oppressed, weak and powerless, even if, especially if, we disagree with them? If the Supreme Court upholds the Pledge, it will be all too easy to gloat that justice, and God, have been served. But, the real test of moral conviction will be if "under God" gets struck down and it is Christians, not atheists, who must choose submission or disobedience. So, with all due respect I ask, what would Jesus do, submit or disobey? Please support your response with specific verses or generally accepted biblical principles. Parable |
Bible Answer: "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." Tacitus William Henry Seward who served under Abraham Lincoln once said something very important. He said: "There is a higher law than the Constitution." Your question also brings to mind what John F. Kennedy once said; "the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forbears fought are still at issue around the globe - the belief that the rights of man come not from the genorisity of the state but from the hand of God." Finally Abraham Lincoln believed that it is the Constitutional right of the people to overthrow Goverment if they should ever get weary of it. Lincoln said; "This country, with it's institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to desmember or overthrow it." Just some off the wall food for thought for you and others Shalom New Creature |