as a student of theology do you only study christian texts or do you learn about others? I only see christian discussions on this blog

almost none of my posts are christian. i study the hebrew bible and other ancient near eastern works

Wow, I'm glad you're Christian Bad Vibes are now a reason to say gross stuff. Christian Bad Vibes are the equivalent of I haven't faced gross oppression or bad laws so these people must be wrong even though they have clearly explained that POOR PEOPLE ARE LOSING THEIR JOBS. But yeah, go ahead and care more about your feelings than the poor. Super biblical of you. Sincerely a Christian who has actually read my bible front to back multiple times.

Hey anon! Thanks for your perspective. I definitely acknowledge that I’m coming to this situation from a place of privilege. To be very clear, I never said that the protesters were wrong in their core message, and I think their intentions were good; it’s the implementation that feels off to me. Since you’re coming at this from a Christian angle, I’m gonna go ahead and lay out how I got to my conclusion.

My primary issue here is with compelling people to participate in the protest. Is protesting these laws good? Yes! But people should be able to choose whether and how they participate in protests, as their own conscience leads them. There’s this one passage in Romans 14 where Paul discusses personal convictions regarding consumption of meat: “One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.” And then, later on: “Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.” So it seems to me that with complicated ethical issues, such as non-lawful protests, it’s very Christian to insist that each participant should be protesting because they enthusiastically agree to, not because their hand is being forced.

And why are protests which break the law a moral grey area? Romans 13 discusses submitting to government authorities; “Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience… If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.” Of course, this passage always has to be taken with a grain of salt, and balanced with positive accounts we have of law-breaking protests in the rest of the Bible. That’s why it’s a grey area. Jesus flipping over tables in the temple, for example, was definitely illegal destruction of property, and it was also an inherently good and necessary thing. Daniel, the prophets, Paul and the apostles– all of these broke the law in protest to follow God’s leading, because morality and legality do not always overlap. We further have to take into account the call that we have, as Christians, to uphold justice for the poor and oppressed. So this definitely shouldn’t be taken as a blanket call against protests against the government in general, including those which involve breaking the law! But for my own personal conscience, I’d likely make other plans for my transportation that day if faced with this type of situation. The thing is, I’m privileged enough to have that choice, but there are a lot of less privileged people with similar convictions who were likely forced to break the law in order to make it home to feed their kids or make it to their night shift, and forcing people to act against their conscience because they can’t afford to do otherwise feels wrong to me.

I’m not saying that the protesters are wrong for protesting by jumping the turnstiles themselves! Just because I personally wouldn’t feel comfortable participating doesn’t mean others shouldn’t. However, for those of us who do feel compelled to follow the law for ethical reasons, or who don’t feel comfortable breaking the law because they feel it might be dangerous for them, it feels wrong to force our participation. I’m particularly thinking of groups who are already subject to a lot of police violence, in stations where there are regularly armed guards stationed to enforce this exact rule– it’s unlikely that I’d personally be in any trouble, but I know of folks who are very particular about following laws for this reason.

Sorry, this got kind of long! I’m not opposed to the idea that I might be in the wrong here, and I’m definitely not trying to speak for all Christians! I welcome more input and commentary, because again, I know I’m coming into this situation with my own biases, as we all do, and I’d like to get as many perspectives as possible so my own can be balanced.