Been reading through a book of William Sloan Coffin's work. Interesting stuff. He can be strident and off-putting at times, but I like much of it.
Certain questions need rigorously to be answered before undertaking any act of civil disobedience: how clear and great is the evil one hopes to oppose by civil disobedience? How hopeless is the remedy within the law? Is it possible to be disobedient without harm to innocent people? And what is the possible efficacy of the act - though this of course is penultimate, never an ultimate consideration.I assume he is refering to Peter's healing in Acts and appearing before the Sanhedrin...Acts 5...(We ought to obey God rather than any human authority.) I dunno. Here I wish for a footnote.For further guidance one is really driven to one's knees. To Peter, of course, all was illuminated invitably and right, but for many of us, acts of civil disobedience will have to be undertaken with fear and trembling, perhaps out of a sense that not to disobey would be even worse.
Jesus was more, not less, than a prophet; more, not less, political than others. Only his were the politics of eternity. And the politics of eternity insist not only on non-violence - an affront to almost every revolutionary; they insist on "one world" - an affront to every nationalist. We shall begin to understand the politics of eternity when we recognize that territorial discrimination is as evil as racial discrimination.What is interesting to explore in this last bit is that "race" is passive. One does not choose to be caucasian, for example. But one can choose national affiliation. That is often a conscious allegiance. Perhaps that makes it that much more insidious that we kill and are killed in the name of nationalism, of ideas, ideologies, powers and principalities...Christians especially should witness to the sin of this. The Reformation was a bloody time, not just a period of intense debate. Zwingli died on the battlefield...not in the pulpit...not on his knees before God in prayer or fasting. It is our great shame. Why then are we so quick to settle a score in the name of democracy? I do not understand this. Then again, it is early in the day. I could use a cup of coffee. Posted by tripp at October 24, 2004 07:14 AM