One Big Lie

I want to make clear that this lie is in no way the biggest lie, not even remotely close. It is, however, a very common lie, one that I have heard from Conservatives, Liberals, Libertarians, Christians, and non-Christians alike. It is spoken with the best of intentions and comes from a heart of gold from nearly every person who has ever believed this lie. It is a lie nonetheless, and I would like to explain why I believe it is such. You may disagree, and you most certainly have the right to. We will just agree to disagree.

The lie goes something like this, “You can’t legislate morality because it doesn’t change minds and hearts.” On its face, one could see how a person believing this has the greatest of intentions. It is their intention to be loving towards people in the hopes that eventually those people will see the consequences of their actions and how they are perhaps damaging to others, and then they will put a stop to their actions. There is absolutely nothing wrong with loving people and hoping they will come to their senses. As Christians, we are called to be even more loving and more gracious towards people in the hopes of leading them to the ultimate giver of Love and Grace, which is Christ. What some seem to forget is that Christ is also ultimate Truth. We can’t abandon truth in the name of grace. They go together.

How is this statement a lie if it is said by a number of people with good intentions? This statement is not logical. Legislation is a law or set of laws that are written and passed by people in government. People in government write and pass laws based on what they believe to be right and wrong- also called morality. What kind of morality those people have depends entirely on the kind of people they were born and raised to be. Some might have a Biblical morality. Some might have a more secular morality. Either way, no person would ever write or pass a law that went against their kind of morality unless they suffered from some sort of split personality. Therefore, the idea that one cannot legislate morality is silly and illogical at best, but it also leads to something much worse.

This statement completely ignores the Biblical purpose of government.

“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor. Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, “You shall not commit Adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal. You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 13:1-10

If a person claims Christianity as their religion, one of the central tenants is the belief in Scripture as the incorruptible Word of God. If you are one who does not hold to this belief, then ignore this paragraph and maybe even the next. These verses in Romans 13 clearly state the purpose of the authority God establishes. The purpose of governing authorities is to be a minister of God in the world for those who do good and to be a minister of God in the world to punish those who do evil. What sort of instrument would a government implement in order to punish evildoers? Most governments come up with some sort of guidelines that clearly define what is acceptable behavior in a society and what is not. (I say most, but it’s most likely all.) Those same governments then define the consequences that come with not following those guidelines. These governments might call these guidelines “laws.” What would a government use to determine what sort of laws are acceptable? The vast majority would use something referred to as the Laws of Nature.

“This law was called the Law of Nature because people thought that every one knew it by nature and did not need to be taught it. They did not mean, of course, that you might not find an odd individual here and there who did not know it, just as you find a few people who are colour-blind or have no ear for a tune. But taking the race as a whole, they thought that the human idea of decent behavior was obvious to every one. And I believe they were right. If they were not, then all the things we said about the war were nonsense. What was the sense in saying the enemy were in the wrong unless Right is a real thing which the Nazis at bottom knew as well as we did and ought to have practiced? If they had had no notion of what we mean by right, then, though we might still have had to fight them, we could no more have blamed them for that than for the colour of their hair.”

            C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity

The Laws of Nature inevitably lead to morality. Morality is the determining source for any set of governing laws.

Some proponents of this lie are concerned about some Christians gaining power and imposing their religion and the worship of their God on others who would not normally worship their God. I would be lying if I told you those kinds of Christians don’t exist. They do unfortunately, and they have absolutely no concept of the Biblical limits on government. This same passage (Romans 13) that establishes the Biblical purpose of government, also establishes what laws the government is to be responsible for upholding among its subjects. You will notice that there is no mention of forcing subjects to obey the commandment given specifically to Jesus’ followers to “Love the Lord their God.” There is only the commandment of loving a neighbor as yourself. If I truly love my neighbor, why in the world would I force him or her to worship a God that they had no desire or intention of worshiping? That would be hatred of the worst kind and would most likely send those poor neighbors sprinting towards the gates of hell.

Most proponents of this lie use it to say Christians have no right to impose their moral views or to legislate their morality in one particular matter: abortion. The vast majority of people when asked their personal views on abortion will say that they wouldn’t personally have an abortion, but they would never tell anyone else that they couldn’t. When you ask these same people why they would never personally have an abortion, they essentially tell you, “Well, I think it might be murder, and I would feel bad about it.” If they honestly considered abortion to be murder and they inherently understood that they didn’t personally have the right to murder another human being, why would they be ok if someone else murdered their own baby? Either they don’t really believe abortion is murder or they do not understand or value the rights of other human beings.

When talking about rights, most people will cite the Constitution (or believe they are citing it) and say, “The Federal Government has no right to outlaw abortion. It should be a states’ rights issue so that the people can decide what is best for them.” It should be noted that this exact same debate took place among people in our nation before over the issue of slavery. Christian fanatics were telling people and their government that no person had the inherent right to own another person and force him to slave labor. Those fanatics prevailed, and we were blessed with a President who understood human rights and the liberty that was his job to protect. With the Emancipation Proclamation (an executive order) came the beginning of the end of slavery. Minds and hearts began to change and see the wickedness of what those slaves had endured only after they were set free.

If a person does not have the right to own another, where does it follow that they have the right to murder another? Now Christian fanatics are telling people and their government once again that no person has the inherent right to murder another person, even if that person is still inside the womb. Our rights end when another person’s rights are being infringed upon.

           

“No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

            Amendment XIV-Section 1

If abortion is truly murder, there is no doubt that this atrocity must be ended. A new Emancipation Proclamation needs to be declared for the unborn. Perhaps then when all the graves are counted will we be able to see the Evil that we allowed to exist, all because of one big lie.