Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property WP_Object_Cache::$global_prefix is deprecated in /home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/object-cache.php on line 468

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property WP_Object_Cache::$blog_prefix is deprecated in /home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/object-cache.php on line 469

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property WP_Object_Cache::$cache_hits is deprecated in /home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/object-cache.php on line 475

Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property WP_Object_Cache::$cache_misses is deprecated in /home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/object-cache.php on line 476

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-content/object-cache.php:468) in /home/aoiusa/public_html/wp-includes/feed-rss2-comments.php on line 8
https://www.aoiusa.org/colson-christians-and-civil-disobedience/ A Research and Educational Organization that engages the cultural issues of the day within the Orthodox Christian Tradition Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:15:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.3.3 https://www.aoiusa.org/colson-christians-and-civil-disobedience/#comment-12878 Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:15:04 +0000 https://www.aoiusa.org/?p=7274#comment-12878 I agree with many who observe that to confine the reality of religious freedom to worship conducted in the name of religion is a curb on our religious freedom; as long as it can be controlled to a certain place and time, it’s OK, but if my faith compels me to act in a particular manner everywhere I go and it conflicts with the laws of a place and I can be prosecuted for the breaking of that law as a result – then we are truly in perilous times. But something else disturbs me here and maybe I’m misreading what I observe. The ’73 supreme court decision legalized abortion on demand. To be sure, individuals, churches, etc., responded against this law legalizing murder of the unborn and there are still many people working tirelessly to maintain awareness before the faithful of this evil and to work and pray for “Roe” to be overturned, but by and large we have done very little on a state or national level to make a decisive impact leading to the repeal of “Roe.” Those who support “Roe” know this and this latest more refined attack at religious liberty is in my mind a direct result of that knowledge. Kind of reminds me of Stalin – the death of one is tragic; the death of thousands a statistic (paraphrase). So this disturbs me, but there’s more. Response to this attack on religious liberty seems to be a bit selfish; let me explain. To be sure there were calls to civil disobedience in response to “Roe” – e.g., Francis Shaeffer, but that pretty much fizzled out over the years. Now, there is renewed vigor to consider CD because something of “mine” is being attacked and threatened. Are we so far gone that we can not muster the strength and courage to fight against the evil of our time as manifested in the murder of human beings, but perhaps can be rallied now that something I consider “mine” is being threatened? Brothers and sisters – as Fr. Seraphim Rose said, “It’s later than you think.” Peace.

]]>