Does the Bible Sanction Injustice?

by

John J. Dunphy

(Originally published in 6/27/18 edition of The Telegraph of Alton, IL)

We’ve tolerated a great deal of chicanery from the Trump administration, but the American people — Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives — simply couldn’t stomach the forced separation of children from their parents at our border. We demanded that it be ended, and Trump had no choice but to comply.

Like many of you, I was intrigued by Attorney-General Jeff Sessions attempt to justify such a horrendous policy by quoting the Bible. “I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained the government for his purposes,” Sessions said when addressing an assembly of law enforcement officers in Fort Wayne, Indiana. “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful.” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told the media that she agreed with Sessions. “I can say that it is very biblical to enforce the law,”she said. “It’s a moral policy to follow and enforce the law.”

Are Sessions and Sanders indeed correct? Romans 13: 1–2 state: “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so bring judgment on themselves.” In this chapter, Paul also maintains that “the one in authority is God’s servant.”

Many American Christians were outraged that Sessions and Sanders would use Romans 13 to justify such a barbaric policy. I hasten to remind them that isn’t the first time this chapter has been employed to legitimize cruelty. Prior to the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, slavery was legal in our nation’s southern and border states. Sessions said that lawful processes are good in themselves. Slave auctions were “lawful processes” that often separated parents from their children. I find it ironic that a southerner like Sessions would use Romans 13 in an attempt to justify the separation of parents and children in the twenty-first century.

Supporters of slavery avidly quoted Romans 13 as they sought to discredit abolitionists. “The authorities (read “southern and border state politicians”) that exist have been established by God” — and those authorities have established slavery. Therefore, to rebel against slavery is nothing less than rebellion against God, they argued.

The federal government, with pro-slavery politicians in both the House and Senate, attempted to ensure that no American would rebel against slavery. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 mandated a $1,000 fine as well as six months in prison for anyone who offered shelter or even food and clothing to a runaway slave. Nonetheless, participants in the Underground Railroad courageously chose to violate this law and continued to aid men, women and children who fled their masters. Would Sessions and Sanders regard them as sinners? Would you?

Sanders contends that “It’s a moral policy to follow and enforce the law.” Would she think it was “moral” to obey the Fugitive Slave Act and deny help to runaways? Would she insist that slave-catchers were moral for enforcing a law that demanded fugitive slaves must be captured and returned to their owners? Sessions said that “Orderly and lawful processes are good in themselves and protect the weak and lawful.” Mr. Sessions, returning human beings to an existence of shackles and whips wasn’t “good.” And slavery hardly protected “the weak.”

I’m old enough to remember when segregation was the law in much of the United States. Would Sessions and Sanders have the audacity to say that those long-ago civil rights activists were immoral for deliberately violating laws that mandated segregation?

An “authority” that created laws permitting slavery and segregation didn’t deserve anyone’s respect and obedience. And neither does a twenty-first century president who tears apart families.

John J. Dunphy is the author of a number of works, including Abolitionism and the Civil War in Southwestern Illinois and Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials: The Investigative Work of the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group, 1945–1947.