Have you heard about Tim DeChristopher? He’s the guy who bid on oil and gas leases in Utah even though he didn’t have the money to pay for them. With the belief that the auction was illegal, his goal was to drive up the price and put the leases out of reach of the real oil companies. He was arrested, and last month was found guilty on two felonies. He’s now facing 10 years in prison and some heavy fines. In the wake of his actions a federal judge halted the sales. In 2009 the Obama administration voided the sales. The judge in DeChristopher’s trial refused to allow both the issue of civil disobedience and the history of the sales to be mentioned in court.
Yesterday was the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and with the DeChristopher trial on my mind, I began wondering where the line is for issues of civil disobedience. Please don’t think I am comparing DeChristopher’s actions to King’s. In his famous letter, King stated in a way that only he seemed able that universal truth has a power unto itself, and that good people are sometimes compelled to acts of civil disobedience when they can do nothing else. I don’t know if DeChristopher considers himself similar to King, but it’s far easier for me to see that universal truth is opposed to the evil inherent in a way of life with no moral legitimacy than it is to illegal oil sales.
Most Christians can imagine extreme situations where they would disobey the laws of man when they are in conflict with God’s law. But I am interested in the other end of the spectrum. For Christians, what’s the beginning point at which one should consider civil disobedience a valid option?
source: dominiqueb
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