Public Taxes for National Sin

Last evening I heard William Cavanaugh from De Paul University speak on Religious Freedom and the Security State. According to Cavanaugh, the security state in which we live defines religion as a sacred right of every individual, but it must be kept individual. Religion must not impinge in any way upon government, economics, education, or any aspect of “secular” life. Religion is but one particular, subservient realm under the direction of the almighty and universal sovereign government.

For a Catholic, as represented by Dr. Cavanaugh, faith encompasses all of life, and faith cannot be compartmentalized as one of many realities under governmental beneficence. Our Christian faith demands expression in all of life. Throughout most of his talk, Dr. Cavanaugh sounded oh, so utterly Anabaptist.

Do I agree with everything Dr. Cavanaugh said? Well, no. Dr. Cavanaugh’s suggestion was to have group protection for people of faith as a group so that Christian institutions like schools and hospitals and Christian business people do not have to provide contraception or abortion services to their employees as required under Obama Care. He suggested that Indian tribes do have separate laws for themselves in certain ways differing from national norms, and this idea needs to be expanded.

My question is this: How is paying for abortion or contraception according to health care policy different from paying taxes for wars we believe to be immoral? If we object to one, we should object to all and be willing to pay the consequences. Perhaps the current situation is God sent to help us think through all our entanglements with the world.

Unfortunately what Cavanaugh proposes is what Christians have long “enjoyed” in Islamic countries under Islamic Sharia law. According to Sharia Christians are judged in court according to their own beliefs and norms. Historically this has protected Christians to a certain degree, but under severe restrictions. The result has been segregation based on religion rather than race, and woe to anyone who bears witness to of faith in Christ to a Muslim .

We need to pray for new light in the new day that has arrived.  A secular democracy is by definition an atheist democracy, and the logic of living in such a democracy  is beginning to play out it’s natural consequences. Faithfulness to truth and love will always be costly. In the end Jesus is and will be Lord of All.

Our calling as believers is not to defend secular notions of liberty with our lives and loyalty, but to live fully in the liberty of the gospel  under the protection of nothing other than the grace and power of Christ who set us free and who is our rock and our defense.