Anti-Climacus

WELL: I read Vox Popoli's answer to J.P.'s question. I think it's a perfectly fine and well-reasoned answer, though obviously I don't agree with the particular conclusion he comes to. But I find this troubling:

"To be sure, there are verses which suggest that the earthly authorities have been given their authority by God. However, it is worth noting that the apostles, who surely understood the Gospel better than we do, were constantly in trouble with the law, and indeed, most of them were executed by the legal authorities, as was Jesus Christ himself. This would seem to support the notion that earthly law and moral law are not one and the same."

Which is true, of course, but Jesus and the disciples were existing within society in a slightly different manner than most Christians do, that is, officially outside it. The pertinent question is whether we, as political actors, would do right to pretend as if we don't make moral judgments when it comes to our political judgments. Vox brings up the abortion example. If you truly believe that abortion is infanticide (which you reasonably might), can you really sit back and be utterly indifferent to the position the government takes on that question? You might well say that it's not the government's place to make that decision, or the coercive power of people as a group might make for an effective countervailing force, but even the refusal of the government to take a position amounts to a position, either passively approving or disapproving, depending on which is the status quo. You can want the role of government in these issues to be minimized, but you can't pretend like it doesn't exist, or that governmental role isn't a problem. Pretty much the last thing I intend to do is impugn anyone's motives or, worse, their Christianity; but I still see the tension there.