Why Christians Should Be Speaking Up about the Surveillance State…”While Big Brother’s eyes grow stronger, some Christians just shut their eyes tighter.”
Almost immediately following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Safety Administration were created. After stumbling through an impromptu round of "God Bless America" on the capitol steps, both sides of the aisle were quick to put aside their regular differences in order to put forward their most secure faces.
Neither party wanted to be seen as soft on terrorism.
Almost twelve years later, we must face the snowball effect of those initial efforts and have a real discussion about where the priority of "security at all costs" ends and the honoring of civil liberties begin. For Christians, this is an important conversation because it involves biblical issues such as the dignity of all persons, a healthy view of human depravity, and our belief in Christian ethics.
Many Early American Christians Had a More Healthy Suspicion Regarding Government and Liberty
It is important to note that we have, for example, a First Amendment in the Bill of Rights because free-church Christians (Baptists, to be specific) said that the government should not be trusted to guard the rights of the individual-- those rights had to be enumerated, so that freedom and liberty could be protected.
Actually (and ironically), some of the Founding Fathers were concerned that by listing the "rights" in these "bills," some might assume that these were the only rights, when there were many more. Regardless, they added these rights, which were generally a non-issue for many years-- until they were tested many years later and the Bill or Rights became more prominent.
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Almost immediately following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Safety Administration were created. After stumbling through an impromptu round of "God Bless America" on the capitol steps, both sides of the aisle were quick to put aside their regular differences in order to put forward their most secure faces.
Neither party wanted to be seen as soft on terrorism.
Almost twelve years later, we must face the snowball effect of those initial efforts and have a real discussion about where the priority of "security at all costs" ends and the honoring of civil liberties begin. For Christians, this is an important conversation because it involves biblical issues such as the dignity of all persons, a healthy view of human depravity, and our belief in Christian ethics.
Many Early American Christians Had a More Healthy Suspicion Regarding Government and Liberty
It is important to note that we have, for example, a First Amendment in the Bill of Rights because free-church Christians (Baptists, to be specific) said that the government should not be trusted to guard the rights of the individual-- those rights had to be enumerated, so that freedom and liberty could be protected.
Actually (and ironically), some of the Founding Fathers were concerned that by listing the "rights" in these "bills," some might assume that these were the only rights, when there were many more. Regardless, they added these rights, which were generally a non-issue for many years-- until they were tested many years later and the Bill or Rights became more prominent.
Read Full Article