#romans 13

The Bible as Political Agenda

Although this is the first the United States government has attempted to use these specific verses to justify its own horrific misconduct, it’s not the first time those verses have been cited in U.S. history. It’s the third:

“‘There are two dominant places in American history when Romans 13 is invoked,’ said John Fea, a professor of American history at Messiah College in Pennsylvania. ‘One is during the American Revolution [when] it was invoked by loyalists, those who opposed the American Revolution.’ The other, Fea said, ‘is in the 1840s and 1850s, when Romans 13 is invoked by defenders of the South or defenders of slavery to ward off abolitionists who believed that slavery is wrong. I mean, this is the same argument that Southern slaveholders and the advocates of a Southern way of life made. ... Whenever Romans 13 was used in the 18th and the 19th century — and Sessions seems to be doing the same thing, so in this sense there is some continuity — it’s a way of manipulating the scriptures to justify your own political agenda.’”

Unsurprising, given that Sessions is not only racist but an admirer of the Ku Klux Klan. (Oh, wait, no, he says he was only joking. Right. We hear that a lot from Trump and his administration, huh?)

The Bible on Government Authority

If Christians actually believed and followed Paul’s apparent dictates in Romans 13:1-2 to obey the government no matter what, Christianity would no longer exist, as the Roman government repeatedly outlawed it. Some examples:

In 112, Emperor Trajan approved the conviction and punishment (i.e., execution) of accused Christians.

In 202, Emperor Severus forbade conversion to Christianity.

In 250, Emperor Decius ordered all Roman citizens to sacrifice publicly to the Roman gods; refusal was punished by arrest, imprisonment, torture, and execution.

In 257, Emperor Valerian issued an edict making Christianity punishable with exile or condemnation to the mines.

In 258, Valerian made the punishment death.

In 303, Emperor Diocletian prohibited Christians from assembling for worship and ordered the destruction of their scriptures, liturgical books, and places of worship across the Roman Empire.

Later in 303, Diocletian ordered all Christian bishops and priests arrested and imprisoned.

In 304, Diocletian ordered all persons--men, women, and children--to gather publicly and make sacrifices to the Roman gods; those who refused were executed.

In 306, Emperor Maximinus II published an edict demanding that everyone sacrifice to the Roman gods or be executed.

In 309, Maximinus II published another edict demanding another mass sacrifice to the Roman gods under pain of execution.

Gosh, I guess maybe even the most devout Christians don’t think Paul meant that the government is always right after all.

The Bible as Government Authority

Personally, I prefer Thomas Jefferson’s approach to government authority:

“Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,  — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends [Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness], it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it ... when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government.”

But what do I know? That’s just the Declaration of Independence. Clearly the Bible is a far better source for the authority of the U.S. government than our founding documents. And to Hell--literally--with anyone who dares mention separation of church and state!

The Bible on Foreigners

If only Sessions had started reading Paul’s “clear and wise commands” just before that, at Romans 12:9-10 and 21:

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. ... Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Or kept reading just a few verses more, to Paul’s further discussion of the “law” in Romans 13:8-10:

“Whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. ... ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Or read pretty much any other part of the Bible besides the tiny section some researcher cherry-picked for Sessions to quote to the media:

Exodus 22:21: “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”

Leviticus 19:18: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.”

Leviticus 19:33-34: “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”

Leviticus 24:22: “You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born.”

Deuteronomy 10:18-91: “He ... loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.”

Deuteronomy 27:19: “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner.”

Jeremiah 22:3: “Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner.”