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There is a debate on whether or not a Christian should practice civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is the refusal to go along with certain laws or policies that are unjust, as a peaceful form of protest. Bonhoeffer practised civil disobedience in Nazi Germany, where there was a high risk of being caught.
One argument against Christians practising civil disobedience, is that there are parts of the bible that imply Christians to not practice civil disobedience. For example, the gospel of Luke implies that the worldly authorities are to be respected since Jesus said: ‘’Then give back Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s’’. The Romans were an occupying power, yet Jesus is still telling the Jewish people to give taxes that ultimately support Rome. This account supports the view that it is not your responsibility to defy the state, instead our giving to God should be a personal affair. However, this is criticised by the Gospel of Mark, which indicates that Jesus seemed to advocate for civil disobedience whilst in the temple of Jerusalem. This is shown in the quote, ‘’and Jesus went into the temple of god, and cast out all of them ... My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.’’
One argument in favour of Christians practicing civil disobedience is that there are times where it might be necessary to disobey the state. For example, Bonhoeffer practiced civil disobedience and was possibly part of the attempt to assassinate Hitler. Bonhoeffer wrote that the ‘worldly order is subject to the commandment of God.’ In other words, the Christian has a higher duty than the state – they must ensure that God’s will of benevolence and loving thy neighbour is being followed. Initially, however, he was attracted, like most Germans, to the view that in your private life you have a duty to god, but in the public life you have a must obey the authorities with the rise of Hitler thought that this understanding was totally inadequate.
On the other hand, there are sources that go against the idea of Christians practising civil disobedience is that in St Paul’s letter to the romans, he commands the Christian community to follow the state. This is shown in the quote of ‘All of you must obey the government rulers. Everyone who rules were given the power to rule by god.’ At the time of St Paul’s writing, the ruling authority was Nero, one of the worst tyrants of all time – a man who enjoyed burning Christians alive. If Paul could command Christians to obey Nero, why should it be different for when Hitler was alive? Many German Christians must have thought in the long run, God would sort it out and, therefore, their duty was to obey the state. This is further supported by the fact that the Christian church agreed with St. Paul on the necessity of obeying authority. The Catechism of the catholic church says that ‘human society can neither be well-ordered nor prosperous without it has some people invested with legitimate authority to preserve its institutions.’ In other words, the Catechism of the Catholic church says that society needs leaders to establish law and order.
However, people would justify Christians practicing civil disobedience is that If a state imposes a law which is unjust and does not promote the common good, then, the Christian is no longer required to obey it. Even though the catechism makes it clear that the state’s authority should be obeyed, it also says that the state’s authority should only be recognised if it is seeking the common good and does nothing immoral in the pursuit of the common good. This is shown in the quote of, ‘Authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good…If rulers were to enact unjust laws or take measures contrary to the moral order, such arrangements would not be binding in conscience.’ This is backed up by various points throughout history, for example, in Britain the Catholic Mass was banned and there were severe penalties for priests who celebrated mass. Here the law was clearly unjust, and Catholics disobeyed the state to practise their religion. In addition to this, Bonhoeffer thought that the Christian is justified in defying the state, and so participating civil disobedience.
Some philosophers argue that Christians should practice civil obedience. For example, Aquinas also supported this by arguing that the one of the primary precepts of natural law is to live in an orderly society. For this to happen we have to establish civil obedience not civil disobedience. This means that if a Christian practises civil disobedience, then they are actively working against the natural law.
In conclusion, it is clear that Christians shouldn’t practice civil disobedience even though there many examples of when is advocated for, there are too many criticisms of civil disobedience. For example, the catholic church says that in order for a functioning society there has to be leaders to establish law and order and that there many passages in the bible that go against the concept of civil disobedience, for example, St Paul’s letters and the Gospel of Luke.