Law, Government, and the Christian Religion

 Recently, the House of Representatives passed the Equality Act Bill, which would expand the 1964 Civil Rights Act to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. If you aren’t familiar with the proposed bill, let’s just say that it would drastically impact religious liberty for Christian institutions who oppose the godless agenda of the LGBTQ community. Of course, this bill would have to pass through and be approved by the Senate to become law, but it was still sad to see three Republican representatives support such a bill.

 However, I do not want to draw attention to the Equality Act bill and what it would do to the religious liberty of many Christian organizations. Rather, I would like to bring your attention to a comment made on the floor of the Senate on Thursday, February 25. Representative Gregory Steube from Florida, made the following statement in opposition to the Equality Act:

“Whenever a nation’s laws no longer reflect the standards of God, that nation is in rebellion against Him, and will inevitably bear the consequences.”

While many other Congressmen and Congresswomen in the Republican party endorsed a pragmatic solution, opposing the Equality Act on the basis of what it could do to religious liberty and trying to find a compromise with the political left, this Representative opposed the proposed bill on the basis that the LGBT agenda is in direct opposition to the holy law of God. Implicit in this Congressman’s assertion is the premise that it is the duty of civil government to uphold and establish God’s law as the supreme law of the land. 

 The idea that the civil magistrate has a duty to uphold and establish the law of God has a long history in the Christian and Protestant tradition. Most, if not all Protestant theologians and pastors believed that it was the duty of public officials to rule in accordance with the law of God. However, this is not only true of Christianity in Europe; it is also true in America. Even though the first amendment of the Bill of Rights is clear that Congress shall not establish a church to be the official religion of the nation, and that church and state are to remain distinct, it does not preclude the idea of the state recognizing Christ as Lord and enforcing morality in accordance with the true Christian religion. George Washington, the first president of these United States, made the following claim in his National Day of Thanksgiving Proclamation: 

“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will…to promote the knowledge and practice of the true religion.”[1] 

George Washington recognized that it was his duty as the first president of the United States, to acknowledge the Triune God, obey Him, and promote true obedience to Him in the civil realm. 

 Similarly to George Washington, the Princeton Presbyterian theologian, A.A. Hodge, affirmed in his lectures that civil government has an obligation to recognize God’s law and sovereignty over the nation:

 Every Christian must believe that the State ought to be obedient to the revealed law of Christ…The State must pronounce her will as to the rest of the Sabbath day, as to marriage and divorce, as to the rights of property and the relations of capital and labour, as to capital punishment, and as to the education of the young. The ground covered by these subjects the State cannot possibly avoid. And it is equally impossible for a Christian man, who knows the will of Christ as to the points in question, to ignore or disobey that will when acting in the capacity of a citizen of the State. If he does do so, he is consciously guilty of direct disloyalty to his Lord. All intelligent and honest Christians must seek to bring all the action of the political society to which they belong obedient to the revealed will of Christ, the supreme King, the Ruler among the nations.[2]

 It is absurd to imagine that a Christian, converted by the grace and Spirit of God, knowing that God’s law must be obeyed, can somehow leave God’s law in his private life when he comes to fulfill his duty in the state. No government official can leave their convictions out of the public square; even non-Christians do not do this. It does not take long to notice that the political left is very religious with their desire to transform society through their cultural agenda. They would not dare assume that they can keep their moral convictions private. So why must the Christian be forced into quiet submission? Furthermore, those critiquing Steube for bringing religion into politics have not begun to understand the meaning of the phrase “separation of church and state.” Separation of church and state, as our founders understood it, does not mean that the church is religious and the state is secular. It does not refer to a separation of religion and state or a separation of God and state. Because civil government is an ordinance of God (Rom. 13:1), the state must bear a religious character. Steube did not conflate the church and state in his speech; he merely recognized the duty of the state in matters of obedience to God’s law. 

 While many will critique Rep. Steube for bringing religion into politics, there must be two responses from Christians. First, it is an absolute impossibility to not bring true religion into politics, for God is the sovereign Lord over all, including the political realm. It is also worth mentioning that the left also meshes politics and religion; they just believe that they are promoting neutrality in the civil sphere, which is self-contradictory. No one is neutral on this matter. Either God is at the center of a nation’s political agenda or a false god is. Secondly, Rep. Steube did on the floor of the Senate exactly what God requires of Him. Instead of a pragmatic concern, he centered directly on true piety and virtue, acknowledging God’s sovereign lordship over the political realm and warning the House against promoting legislation that offends this holy God. This is in accordance with Psalm 2, which commands rulers of the earth to kiss the Son, lest He be angry. 

 The speech of Rep. Steube on the floor of Congress is cause for praise. Praise God that we still have Representatives in Congress that oppose wicked laws and seek to promote and enforce godly morality in the civil realm. This should cause us to continue to pray for our civil magistrates, that they would have the courage to promote godly legislation and oppose wicked ones, even in the midst of a culture that opposes the gospel of Christ and the holy law of God. 

By Benjamin Booth, GCCA Logic & Rhetoric Teacher

[1] George Washington, “National Day of Thanksgiving Proclamation,” in America’s God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations, ed. William J. Federer (Coppell: FAME Publishing, 1994) 654.

[2] A.A. Hodge, Evangelical Theology: A Course of Popular Lectures (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1990) 238-239.