Jul 03 2009
Choosing between God and Country
Most of this is a re-post of a previous entry I did just after the elections. Since July 4th is tomorrow, I decided to re-post with some additions.
With the recent trends in certain countries (including the United States where I live), a question and comments have arisen many times on a certain Catholic Forums board whether one is Catholic or a citizen on a particular country first.
The following passage may help on this:
Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how to entangle him in his talk. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Hero’di-ans, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the money for the tax.” And they brought him a coin. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Mt. 22: 15-21 RSV)
Yes, we are suppose to support legitimate governments, however, one must remember that God must come first. Where there is a conflict, we must choose God and His Church over one’s country. In fact, this goes much further. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
1902 Authority does not derive its moral legitimacy from itself. It must not behave in a despotic manner, but must act for the common good as a “moral force based on freedom and a sense of responsibility”.[1]
A human law has the character of law to the extent that it accords with right reason, and thus derives from the eternal law. Insofar as it falls short of right reason it is said to be an unjust law, and thus has not so much the nature of law as of a kind of violence.[2]
1903 Authority is exercised legitimately only when it seeks the common good of the group concerned and if it employs morally licit means to attain it. If rulers were to enact unjust laws or take measures contrary to the moral order, such arrangements would not be binding in conscience. In such a case, “authority breaks down completely and results in shameful abuse.”[3]
1904 “It is preferable that each power be balanced by other powers and by other spheres of responsibility which keep it within proper bounds. This is the principle of the ‘rule of law,’ in which the law is sovereign and not the arbitrary will of men.”[4]
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[1] GS 74 # 2.
[2] St. Thomas Aquinas, STh I-II, 93, 3, ad 2
[3] John XXIII PT 51.
[4] CA 44.
When governments, or even particular man-made “positive laws”, are unjust and in conflict with God’d Natural Law, we are obligated to oppose such “positive laws” and governments. I am seeing the the injustice more and more since January. Even the just laws are being trampled either by judicial fiat or by other means of political corruption from the leaders (usually in the form of executive orders). This has been especially true in “life issues”. IMO, there will soon be very few, if any, just governments. If fact, I am seriously coming to the realization that the United States no longer really exists in its true state.
That is why I state that I am Catholic first and an American second (If I even consider myself American anymore). If there is a conflict between the two, country will lose.
As Our Lord says:
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Mt. 6: 24 RSV)
my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it’s to a king & a kingdom
It is sad to see so many Catholics live as if their first allegiance was to the State, and that their commitment to Holy Mother Church is primarily something separate from most of human existence. It is a “reservation” or escapist mentality. It demonstrates just how deep the secularist notion of separation of Church and State has infected the American soul, and that in the end the State holds the trump card.
I remember when this realization first hit me. It was 2004. I was still a Protestant, attending a fellowship that is typically identified with jingoism and the sort of “patriotism” that embraces the belligerent notion that America is a sort of “second Israel” deserving our blind allegiance regardless of whether it be right or wrong.
One day upon leaving the grounds, I noticed that the pastor had decided to fly both the “Christian flag” (i.e. Protestant flag) and the American flag. As I drove past the two of them, I noticed that the Christian flag was flying about one foot lower than the American flag. I thought it was a mistake. Turns out, it is a federal law. If an ecclesial establishment wishes to fly the American flag alongside any other flag, the American flag must hold prominence, and this is done by flying it higher than any other.
The truth of the matter hit hard, as it isn’t a petty law over a piece of colored cloth. No, it is symbolic to the core, with supremacy and allegiance being at stake.
Here is a link to a rather old blog entry dealing with this particular experience and how it changed the way I perceived the concepts of allegiance and supremacy.
Stop Flying Them Upside Down
http://paleocrat.blogspot.com/2005/03/stop-flying-them-upside-down.html
I followed this up with a critique of the notion of American exceptionalism.
America Not All That Exceptional
http://paleocrat.blogspot.com/2005/03/america-exceptional.html